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Robert Frost Biography
Robert Frost Biography
Lexi LaJoice
Mrs. Baker
Literary Analysis
28 February 2019
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Lexi LaJoice
Mrs. Baker
Literary Analysis
28 February 2019
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
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
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
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.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/search/basic?vid=0&sid=d1bc78be-4a0b-409c-9275-2e
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=c24ac677-b0a5-4e7c-
946e-7cdd133824b9%40pdc-v-sessmgr06.
https://www.biography.com/people/robert-frost-20796091.