ROBERT FROST

#Introduction
Robert Frost, in full Robert Lee Frost, was an American poet who was
much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his
command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse
portraying ordinary people in everyday situations.

Born 26 March1874,San Francisco, California, U.S.

Died January 29, 1963 (aged 88)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation Poet, playwright
Alma mater Dartmouth College (no degree)
Harvard University (no degree)
Spouse Elinor Miriam White
Notable Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
awards Congressional Gold Medal
Notable A Boy’s Will, North of Boston, New Hamisphere
works

#History
Robert lived in San Francisco until his father’s death when
Robert was only 11 years old. After his father’s death, the
family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Robert and
his sister lived with their grandparents at Lawrence while
their mother taught at schools around the northeast.
Robert graduated from high school in 1892. A top student
in his class, he shared valedictorian honours with Elinor
White, with whom he had already fallen in love. Robert
and Elinor shared a deep interest in poetry but their
continued education sent them away. Robert was sent to
Dartmouth College and later, at Harvard University,
though he never earned a formal degree. In 1895, Frost
married Elinor Miriam White, with whom he’d shared
valedictorian honors in high school, and who was a major
inspiration for his poetry. The couple moved to England in
1912. Frost met and got influenced by many
contemporary British poets as Edward Thomas, Rupert
Brooke, and Robert Graves.

#Works
Frost drifted through a string of occupations after leaving
school, working as a teacher, cobbler, and editor. His first
published poem, “My Butterfly,” appeared on November
8, 1894 in the New York newspaper The Independent.
While in England, Frost also established a friendship with
the poet Ezra Pound, who helped to promote and publish
his work. By the time Frost returned to the United States
in 1915, he had published two full-length collections, A
Boy’s Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), thereby
establishing his reputation. By the 1920s, he was the
most celebrated poet in America. The poet and critic
Randall Jarrell often praised Frost’s poetry and wrote
“Robert Frost seems to me the greatest of the American
poets of this century. No other living poet has written so
well about the actions of ordinary men; his wonderful
dramatic monologues or dramatic scenes come out of a
knowledge of people that few poets have had, and they
are written in a verse that uses, sometimes with absolute
mastery, the rhythms of actual speech”

#Achievements
 Frost was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature
31 times.
 In June 1922, the Vermont State League of Women’s
Clubs elected Frost as Poet Laureate of Vermont.
 Frost was elected to the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences in 1931 and the American Philosophical
Society in 1937
 On July 22, 1961, Frost was named Poet Laureate of
Vermont by the state legislature
 Robert Frost won the 1963 Bollingen Prize.
 Frost is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes
for Poetry.
 He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in
1960 .
 When a New York Times editorial strongly criticised
the decision of the Women’s Clubs, Sarah Cleghorn
and other women wrote to the newspaper defending
Frost. He became one of America’s rare “public
literary figures, almost an artistic institution”