biography of robert frost the familiar english author.ppt

the author Robert Frost

1. Robert Frost
A Detailed Study

2. Brief Biography
Robert Lee Frostwas born March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, CA
Father Will Frost dies. Family returns to Lawrence, MA for burial.
Robert enters Lawrence H.S. 1888
Publishes first poem “La Noche Triste in May, 1890
Graduates co-valedictorian of Lawrence H.S. with Elinor White in
1892
Enters Dartmouth College in 1892. Leaves before the end of the
term.
1893-1895 –works in a mill, as a reporter, teacher
Marries Elinor White, Dec. 19, 1895. First child Elliot born
9/25/96.
Enters Harvard College 1897. Leaves 1899, returns to Lawrence.
Robert and Elinor have 5 more children 1899-1907.

3. Brief Bio. continued
DEATH
First child Elliot dies at age 3 in 1900
Mother, Isabelle, dies of cancer 4 months later
Sixth child Elinor dies within days of birth, 1907
Fifth child, Marjorie, dies during childbirth, 1937
Wife, Elinor, dies of a heart attack, 1938
Third child, son Carol, dies of suicide, 1940

4. (Some) Recognition
Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry
1923 –New Hampshire
1931 –Collected Poems
1937 –A Further Range
1943 –A Witness Tree
Gold Medal for Poetry, National Institute of Arts and
Letters, 1939
Gold Medal, Poetry Society of America, 1941
Award, Academy of American Poets, 1953
Congressional Gold Medal, 1960
(presented by John F. Kennedy, 1962)
Inaugural Poet for John F. Kennedy, 1961.

5. A Modest Ambition
It has been noted that Frost’s
ambition as a writer was to write
“a few poems that it would be
hard to get rid of.”
(R.H. Winnick)

6. Frost’s stylistic hallmarks
Frost is often described as a pastoralpoet
a. Of or relating to the country or country life;
rural.
b. Charmingly simple and serene; idyllic.
c. Of, relating to, or being a literary or other
artistic work that portrays or evokes rural life,
usually in an idealized way.
Those who criticize Frost label him as “detached” from
modern society, content to sing of sweet nostalgia for
the good things of the past.

7. Look more closely
Frost uses rural imagery to explore
something of larger symbolic or
metaphysical significance.
Nature can be either or both the central
theme of a poem, or merely a backdrop or
physical setting for a very human
or even existential theme.

8. Some hallmarks of Frost’s poetry
SUBJECTS
rural scenes and
landscapes
farming and farmers
the natural world
ALSO
psychological struggle
experience
will
purposefulness
acceptance

9. Some themes
Relationship to fellow man
Tragedy
Strong and sensitive feelings for the non-
human natural world
Fate / death
Trust in oneself, fellow man, the future

10. Sound
“I want them all to sound different. Listen
for the tune.” –Robert Frost
Be careful to examine the
possibilities of sound and
wordplay in the poems

11. Tone and Drama
“It’s the tone I’m in love with; that what poetry is,
tone.” –R.F.
“Literature is performance in words.” –R.F.
Frost uses drama and situation to vary the tones.
He employs distinctive human tonalities,
generally subdued and low key, ranging the
scale of human emotion.

12. Form
Short to medium length poems, generally.
Highly structured in terms of meter,
rhythm, and rhyme.
Traditional stanzaic organization
“I would sooner write free verse as play
tennis with the net down.” –R.F.

13. Metaphor
“Poetry permits the one possible way to say one
thing and mean another.” –R.F.
“The figure of a poem is the same as for love, it
begins with delight and ends in wisdom.”
“A poem is a thought-felt thing.”
Many poems begin with observation and follow
with connection. In this sense…

14. …we may see a poem’s pattern as
Nature
Volta
Contemplation

15. Nature
(Clarification)
Frost may use nature as a background,
beginning with the observation of something in
nature and then moves toward a connection to
some human situation or concern
“I’m not a nature poet. There is almost always a
person in my poems.” –R.F.
Please take a look at “Design”

16. I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth--
Assorted characters of death and blight Nature
Mixed ready to begin the morning right, 5
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth--
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.
What had that flower to do with being white, Volta
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? 10
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small. Contemplation
Design

17. Reserve
You may be well served to adopt the phrase,
“Frost poses the question …”
rather than
“Frost’s message is…”
Frost believed poetry should engage ideas, but not
take sides. He rarely answered questions
directly. He said, “Poetry is gloating.” He also
said, “Never larrup an emotion.”

18. Region
Frost was often thought of as a regional
poet (New England), but described himself
as a “realmist.”
His poems are universal, but told in the
setting he knew and loved.

19. Humor
“The height of poetry is a kind of mischief.” –R.F.
Look for his puns and double entendres
Ex. “And whom I was like to give offense.”
(Mending Wall)
Good fences
make good
neighbors…

20. Remember:
Subject
the topic that the
poet has chosen to
write about
Theme
the main thought that
it expresses aboutthe
subject
Something
psychological,
believed, or felt

21. Examples for “Mowing”
“Working at a task one loves is its own
best reward.”
“The joy of work is sweeter than any
dream.”