The Verbose Insomniacs
Robert Frost
Biography (1874-1963)
Fast Facts:
-Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California.
-Frost attended Lawrence High School, where he met his future wife, Elinor White.
-In 1894, Frost published his first poem, "My Butterfly: an Elegy," in The Independent.
-In the beginning in 1897, Frost attended Harvard University, but had to drop out after two years due to health issues
-Frost then moved to a farm in New Hampshire with his wife and children.
-Though living at the farm was an accomplished period of time for Frost's writing, it was a difficult period in his personal life.
-Erza Pound and Edward Thomas were the first people to review his work in a positive way and encouraged him to move foward.
-In 1916, he published Frost's Mountain Interval, a collection of other works he created in England.
-Frost received more than 40 honorary degrees during his lifetime.
-In 1924, he received his first of four Pulitzer Prizes for his book New Hampshire.
This is a short biography of Robert Frost.
Birches
Out, Out
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Mending Wall
Background
Frost spent most of his life in areas that were heavily forested. One of the most common trees from these areas is the bitch. Frost wrote and published this poem in 1929 to reminisce about his childhood and how he wishes to return to that period of time. In the poem, Forst celebrates the birch's flexibility and hints the idea that the human spirit also shares this trait.
Background
Robert Frost's poetry depict both the New England landscape, as well as its traits. Though Frost grew up in an urban area, he was still able to relate to the country side and gain acceptance into that world. By doing so, Frost was able to gain a great deal of knowledge of the rural aspect for his poems and include pastoral reference in them, like in "Mending Wall."
Background
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of the most famous Robert Frost’s poems. It consists of four quatrains that have the following rhyme scheme:aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd. The poem’s central narrative is simple, and the scene is understated, even stark, bare of elaboration or detail. A traveler pauses late one snowy evening to admire the woods by which he passes. He reflects that the owner of the woods, who lives in the village, will not see him stopping to “watch his woods fill up with snow.”
Synopsis
The speaker is walking through the woods when he sees birches swinging in the wind. He begins to imagine stories behind the tree. He wishes to think that a boy had been swinging on them, but then realizes that birches do not stay bent if one were to swing on them. He thinks about the way ice covers the crack of the trees when they bend. The speaker then goes back to the image of a boy climbing to the top of the tree, swinging outward, and kicking his way back onto the ground. This imagine causes him to reminisce about his youth, wishing that he can start over and go back to climbing a birch tree to "get away from Earth awhile." This memory makes him feel as though life is not actually a trap, since his childhood imagination can always free him from his adulthood at any time.
Synopsis
The speaker in the poem is traveling at night through the snow and pauses with his horse near the woods by a neighbor's house to watch the snow falling around him. His horse shakes his harness bells, questioning the pause; perhaps this place isn't on their usual route, or he is curious that there doesn't appear to be a farmhouse nearby. The speaker continues to stand near the woods, attracted by the deep, dark silence of his surroundings. He feels compelled to move further into the snowy woods, but he ultimately decides to continue, concluding with perhaps the most famous lines of the poem: 'But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
Synopsis
As a ritual, two neighbors meet to repair stone wall that separates their properties anually. However, the narrator is hesitiant with this tradition. He didn't understand why there was a division between them when there are no animals to contain. He couldn't grasp the reason as to why there should be a wall just so it can be put there. Furthermore, he also realized that even nature seemed to agree with his concept; as he witness that holes within the wall and the random boulders that fall with it. When the narrator confronts his neighbor, the neighbor simply says that the wall was significant in maintaining their relationship, stating that "Good fences make good neighbors." However, when the narrator tried to state his reasoning and explain to him that he was being too old-fashioned and should not follow the tradition so seriously. Despite the narrator's words, the neighbor stood his ground, repeating that "Good fences make good neighbors."
Analysis / Effect
Frost was inspired by his childhood experiences to write this poem. In the poem, Frost addresses the reader in a casual manner, using the first person “I” and addressing the reader as “you." Frost highlights the narrator’s regret that he can no longer find peace from swinging on birches. Because he is an adult, he is unable to leave his responsibilities behind to start fresh on earth. However, in the end, the narrator realizes that his imagination can be his escape, even if it is only a temporary one. This poem is one of the many examples as to why Frost held such a great impact on American society. This poem revolved a simple object that in result will transform to take on a greater importance.
Analysis / Effect
“Mending Wall” is based off of Frost's neighbor in New Hampshire, Napoleon Guay. Like the poem, Frost and Guary often walked and fixed the wall along their property line. Not only is the story plot true to Frost's life, ironically, the most famous line of the poem, “Good fences make good neighbors,” was actually a phrase that Guay frequently declared to Frost during their walks.
Ultimately, towards the end of the poem it is seen that by maintaining the division between the properties, the narrator and his neighbor are able to maintain their individuality and personal identity as farmers: one of apple trees, and one of pine trees. The act of meeting to repair the wall allows the two men to develop their relationship.
Analysis / Effect
Robert Frost wrote to Louis Untermeyer in 1923 that “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” would be his “best bid for remembrance.” Frost’s instincts were correct, but like Walt Whitman’s famous “Captain, My Captain,” Frost’s poem is often remembered for all the wrong reasons. Part of its appeal, surely, is its simple and accessible narrative, which contains only sixteen words that are more than one syllable. In addition, Frost’s end-stopped lines, accentuated by the insistent rhyme, make the poem easy to remember. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is Frost’s most memorable “genre study” in his “New England” manner, though examination of the poem reveals nothing distinctively regional about it at all. Despite Frost’s reputation as a regionalist, his lyrics are generally so underdescribed that they tend toward allegory or parable. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is an example of Frost’s art in this respect: It gains its power by suggestion and implication, in its stark understatement, powerfully conveying a depth and fullness of human experience. It is, as Frost remarked, “loaded with ulteriority.”
The Gift Outright
Acquainted with the Night
Synopsis
The speaker is describing the nation's changing view of America. Although the colonists owned the land, they did not recognize it as their home. Instead they embraced England as their true homeland, because they were still governed by the British. Eventually they realized that they were denying their beliefs in freedom, and by embracing the land, were able to establish an American identity. In order to accept this gift of identity, the people had to commit many acts of war and mark the land as their own, but the end result was a truly American land.
Background
In 1961, Frost was asked to recite a poem at John F. Kennedy's inauguration. At first Frost refused to write a new poem for the occuasion, and chose to read "The Gift Outright." At Kennedy's request he even changed "would" to "will" in the last line. However, he changed his mind and wrote "Dedication." While speaking, Frost realized he could not see the paper though, due to a glare from the sun and poor eyesight. He then decided to recite "The Gift Outright" from memory instead.
Analysis / Effect
In this poem, Frost reminded people what it is to embrace the American identity. He pointed out that America was built upon a base of freedom and hardworking courageous people. Americans are fortunate to have their country, and need to embrace and give back to it. America is full of possibilities, and it is up to its people to improve it.
Synopsis
The speaker says that he has experienced the dark night. He has walked in the dark depressing rain. He has traveled through the entire sad city. He passed a doorman on his walk, but instead of greeting him, just avoided confrontation. He's stopped to listen to a voice calling out from another street, falsely hoping that it was calling for him. The speaker looks up at a "luminary clock," which is probably the moon, but was dissatisfied with the time it showed. He ends by referring back to the first line of the poem, emphasizing that he has been acquainted with the night.
Synopsis
A young man is cutting firewood with a buzz saw in New England. Near the end of the day, the boy’s sister announces that it is time for dinner and, out of excitement, the boy accidentally cuts his hand with the saw. He begs his sister not to allow the doctor to amputate the hand but inwardly realizes that he has already lost too much blood to survive. The boy dies while under anesthesia, and everyone goes back to work.
Analysis / Effect
This poem is extremely different from many of Frost's other poems. Compared to his other poems, this poem reveals a darker side of Frost. This poem affects American society because it makes him more relatable and shows his readers that he has dark moments too, just like them. Also, this poem is also used to relate to the Great Depression and World War II, events that are to occur years to come. Also, this poem is different from the others because it takes places in the city, contrary to the usual rural settings. It is thought that the poem reflects Frost's earlier life in San Francisco and Lawrence, Massachusetts. This supports the percieved idea from his other poems, as well, that a simple life in the rural country is more enjoyable than one controlled by society in close proximity to others.
Background
"Out, Out" is based on the true story event which is believed to have happened in April 1910. This poem consist of thirty nine line of one verse paragraph and It does not have stanzas. It is one whole block of text. The poem tells about the accident which is experienced by a child. The speaker, in this case Robert Frost try to imagine and recreate it to the every details. Furthermore, the title of this poem is in reference to Shakespeare's "Macbeth." In Act 5 Scene 5, you wil find the quote, "Out out, brief candle."
This video is Robert Frost's reading of "Birches."
This video is a brief analysis of "Mending Wall."
This is a video of Robert Frost reading "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."
Analysis / Effect
Frost uses the method of personification in a major way in this poem. The buzz saw, though technically an inanimate object, is described as a cognizant being, aggressively snarling and rattling as it does its work. When the sister makes the dinner announcement, the saw demonstrates that it has a mind of its own by “leaping” out of the boy’s hand in its excitement. After the boy’s hand is cut off, he was mature enough to realize that he has lost too much blood to survive. He attempts to “keep the life from spilling” from his hand, knowing that nothing else can be done. Most importantly, the boy hopes to maintain his physical dignity in his death, rather than die with a missing hand.
By the end of the poem, the narrator no longer has anything to say about the tragedy of the boy’s death. While the first twenty-six lines contain elegant metaphors and descriptions of the scene, the final eight lines are detached and unemotional. The narrator’s “So” and “No more to build on there” reveal that even the narrator is unable to find any explanation for why such a young boy had to die.
In the last line of the poem, the narrator is seen to be unaffected by what had happened, almost as if indifference is the only way to cope with the boy’s death.
This video is a reading of "Out, Out"
Background
"Acquainted with the Night" reveals the darker side of Frost. This poem was influenced by a few factors during Frost's life. For example, when Frost was eleven years old, his father died. This impacted Frost greatly because it was the main reason as to why Frost moved around so much and why his lifestyle was so different. Furthermore, Frost's life was affected when his wife had post partem depression after the birth of one of his children. This resulted in Frost having to take care of his wife. Lastly, the biggest impact that was made on Frost's life during his lifetime was the death of his two children. This changed Frost's life greatly and he was affected in a major way. All these reasons are what caused Frost to write "Acquainted with the Night."
Frost reading "The Gift Outright" at JFK's inauguration.