os;s religious inclinations (Parini 9).
             In the summer of 1876, Belle, pregnant with her second child, could no longer stand her husband's drinking and gambling (www.ketzle.com). She and Robert left Will without his consent. Having no money due to her husband's wasteful nature, Bell was forced to stay with her in-laws in Massachusetts. Her daughter, Jeanie, was born there on June 25, without the presence of her father (Robert Frost: the Early Years 13).
             This sudden abandonment of his father seemed to have a lasting effect on Robert. A similar tale is told in frost's dialogue "The Hill Wife." Frost describes an isolated woman's fear, loneliness, and marital estrangement. Her husband doesn't understand her feelings and is surprised when she leaves without warning (American Writers 154).
             After a few months of correspondence with her husband, Belle, Robert, and Jeanie returned to San Francisco. To their surprise, they found William sick in the hospital with the dreaded disease of the time, consumption. Although his condition improved, he never fully recovered (Parini 11). For the next nine years William continued to squander away the family's funds on whiskey, claiming that the alcohol eased his pain. He left his family penniless when he died in 1885 of tuberculosis (Robert Frost: the Early Years 45).
             Even though Robert only knew his father for eleven years, he absorbed many of his traits. Like his father, Robert had a drive to make something of himself. He also had his father's disposition; his attitude swinging from times of self-confidence (" I expect to do something to the present state of literature in America") to times of self-doubt ("I have been bad and a bad artist").
             Robert's view of religion also was affected by his father. His spiritual views lied between skepticism (from his father) and faith (from his mother). These contrastin...