Living Through the Words of Robert Frost

Lexi LaJoice

Mrs. Baker

Literary Analysis

28 February 2019
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Lexi LaJoice

Mrs. Baker

Literary Analysis

28 February 2019

Living Through the Words of Robert Frost

The life of Robert Frost: a life full of tragedy and remorse. A life where everyday is a day

written in history. A life that begs for words written on a page. A life that becomes so optimistic,

that it’s almost hard to separate what is real and what is imagination. A life filled with dreams of

becoming what every poet strives for: a household name. Robert Frost put everything into his

writing and his life is reflected through it. Writing was such a big part of Frost’s world before he

became a writer, yet he affected the lives of others then, and changed the lives of people today.

Frost’s interest in reading and writing poetry began early in his life when he moved to

Lawrence, Massachusetts for high school. He later attended university at Dartmouth College in

Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1892, and Harvard University in Boston, yet he never graduated

with a college degree. He was still very influenced by the arts of reading and writing, for shortly

after leaving school he worked as a professor at many universities and an editor of the Lawrence

Sentinel​. This was all before he published his first poem in November 1894 for ​The Independent,

called “My Butterfly.” This kickstarted his need to know more about life and what inhabited it.

After getting married to Elinor Miriam White in 1895, “the couple moved to England… after

they tried and failed at farming in New Hampshire[, but] it was abroad that Frost met and was

influenced by such contemporary poets such as Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert
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Graves… Frost also established a friendship with the poet Ezra Pound, who helped to promote

and publish his work”(“Robert” 1-2). Becoming friends with these famous writers set him on the

right path to becoming the adored poet he is today.

The first 40 years of his life was spent as an unknown. The 1920s was when he became a

“poetic force and the unofficial ‘poet laureate’ of the United States” (“Biography” 1). By the

time Frost had returned to the United States in 1915, his literary career was taking off. He had

published two full-length collections, ​A Boy’s Will​ and ​North of Boston​. Entering the 1920s, he

became one of the most celebrated poets of his era and after publishing his books ​New

Hampshire, Further Range, Steeple Bush, and In the Clearing, h​ e was awarded four Pulitzer

Prizes and he even served as consultant to poetry to the Library of Congress where he was

presented with the Congressional Gold Medal for his work. (“Robert” 1) People from all over the

world were inspired by his poetry, finding how relatable and literal it really was.

It is easy to think that Robert Frost’s work was so intriguing because of how well-known

he was, but it was the raw emotion that captivated his audiences. Prompting Frost to channel

these emotions most was in 1900 when, “Frost moved with his wife and children to a farm in

New Hampshire… and they attempted to make a life on it for the next 12 years. Though… [his]

firstborn son, Elliot, died of cholera in 1900. After his death, [his wife] gave birth to four more

children: son carol (1902), who would commit suicide in 1940; Irma (1903), who later developed

mental illness; Marjorie (1905), who died in her late 20s after giving birth; and Elinor, (1907),

who died just weeks after she was born. Additionally, during that time, Frost and Elinor

attempted several endeavors, including poultry farming, all of which were fairly unsuccessful”

(“Biography” 2). Frost was even met with the decision to drive his greatest friend, Edward
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Thomas, off to war so he could publish the poem they came up with together, ​A Road to War

(Hollis 1). Too many times was Frost faced with a pain we rarely have to suffer, but this helped

his writing greatly. It served as a perfect outlet for his poetic themes. He focused on the beauty in

simplicity; what made people really think. He turned his peasant-like life into an “astonishingly

lyrical and enabled delight [to read about] in the world.” He saw poetry as something that needed

to be saved, but not from society or from brutal critics, but from itself. Poetry needed to be saved

from itself. He explained that poetry is so powerful that when brought about a man it can lead

them to be outlandish beings. Poetry is a reminder of the limitations we face and what we need to

uphold. “When power corrupts, poetry cleanses” (“Robert” 2).

After living and teaching for many years in Massachusetts and Vermont, Frost died in

Boston on January, 1963 due to complications related to prostate surgery. He helped the world of

the 1920s realize what they were slowly letting fade. He helped them see what they needed to

recover from the ashes. Poetry was at the beginning of its end before Frost came along and

hoisted it upon his shoulders. Many people saw his work as “his preoccupation with making art

out of what would have struck many… as scanty and unpromising” (Lea 1). But most saw his

work as the threshold for making a better life out of the suffering of the 1920s. Living in a time

period of such glitz and glamour, Frost found a simplicity in his poetry that gave people a

vacation from the bustle of the 1920s.

Everything a poet is is seen through his writing. The tragedies they suffer, the history

they make, their imagination on paper. They make their dreams come true through other people’s

acceptance. Robert Frost made himself into a household name that people from all over the

world will never forget. His influence brought inspiration to all. “He has bequeathed his nation a
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body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding”

(“Robert” 2). Let us never forget the noble words of Robert Frost.
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Works Cited

Hollis, Matthew. “Edward Thomas, Robert Frost, and the Road to War.” ​The Guardian, ​29 Jul.

2011, https://.

Lea, Sydney. “Robert Frost and the End of Poetry.” ​New England Review, ​vol. 32, No.

63992719, Spring 2011, p. 140- 149.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/search/basic?vid=0&sid=d1bc78be-4a0b-409c-9275-2e

f90810eeea%40sessionmgr4006. ​Academic Search Complete,

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=c24ac677-b0a5-4e7c-

946e-7cdd133824b9%40pdc-v-sessmgr06.

“Robert Frost Biography.” ​Biography.com,​ A&E Television Networks, 2 Apr. 2014,

https://www.biography.com/people/robert-frost-20796091.

“Robert Frost.” ​Poets.org, 1​ 3 Sep. 2018, https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/robert-frost.