Robert Frost
Among the many poets that have contributed to the shaping of American literature, Robert Frost stands as one of the most prevalent. With his descriptive lines about nature, in all its beauty and splendor, he creates scenes within a reader's mind that are hard to forget. His thriving life, and all that was a part of it, is the main "genetic make-up" that he used in his writings. Frost's love of nature seems to dominate all other themes found in his poetry, whether discussing its beauty or destructiveness. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. After his father's death in 1885, he moved to New England at the age of eleven and became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He became enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1892, and later at Harvard, but never earned a formal degree. Frost drifted through a string of occupations after leaving school, working as a teacher, cobbler, and editor of the Lawrence Sentinel. His first professional poem, "The Butterfly," was published on November 8, 1984 in the New York literary journal, The Independent. A year later, in 1895, Frost married Elinor Miriam White, who became a major inspiration in his poetry until he
Frost has many choices in his life. It was Frosts love of nature that tempted him to invest so much money into his farmland. By the nineteen-twenties, he was the most celebrated poet in America, and with each new book - including New Hampshire (1923), A Further Range (1936), Steeple Bush (1947), and In The Clearing (1962) - his fame and honors, including four Pulitzer Prizes, increased. So, while he wishes he could spend his time doing what he loves most, writing poetry, he still needs to take care of his family by working and providing money for them. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth; Already, Frost knows he must pick a road to travel, one direction to take in his own life. By the time Frost returned to the United States in 1915, he had published two full-length collections, A Boy's Will and North of Boston, and his reputation was established. But, as we all know, he cannot travel both because the road in this poem is the journey of life, and in life you cannot turn back or change the decisions you've made. The idea of Frost owning a farm, his love of nature, and the decisions he makes in his life are inaugurated when reading his poetry. "The Road Not Taken" is commonly read at high school graduations because it reflects the decisions people need to make in life. He repeats the last line in order to bring emphasis on the fact that he still has a long way to go before he can rest, both with his family, and with his life, meaning death. The woods are lovely, dark and deepBut I have promises to keepAnd miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep. By writing in first person, Frost allows the reader to feel closer to the actual experience. (Lines 1-4)Frost is aware that he is passing through a neighbor's property and in fact knows whose property he is trespassing. This idea of passing through someone else's property as a way to gain peace is represented in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":Whose woods these are I think I knowHis house is in the village thoughHe will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow. He ends the poem by saying:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
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