Robert Frost - Biography and Works

Robert Frost is a famous modern American poet who is known for his simple poems which have deeper levels of meanings. He was influenced by the British Romantic poets in his early days, but he later was to become the most originally American poet of his time. He became a farmer-and-poet and wrote poems, about local scenes, local people and their life, especially of his home state of New England.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

His poetry was first popularized in England, and he also lived in London for some time; but he returned to his place and became a ‘lonely’ poet who disagreed with any poetic movements like imagism, symbolism, or any ‘gang’ of –isms. He highlights the values of the rural American life, and also universal human values like sympathy, discipline, good reason and imagination. He's saying that “poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom” has become a popular proverb. Frost was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874. After the death of his father in 1885, his family moved back to New England, the original family home. Frost briefly attended Dartmouth and Harvard colleges but did not earn a degree. In the early 1890s, he worked in New England as a farmer, an editor, and a schoolteacher, absorbing the materials that were to form the themes of many of his most famous poems. In 1912, he moved to England where his poetry was well- received and where he met poets William Butler Yeats and Ezra Pound. His first volume of poetry, A Boy’s Will appeared in 1913. His final collection, In the Clearing, appeared in 1962. He won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1924, 1931, 1937 and 1943.

Frost’s poetry is identified with New England, particularly Vermont and New Hampshire. Frost found inspiration for many of his finest poems in the region’s landscapes, folkways, and speech mannerisms. His poetry is noted for its plain language, conventional poetic forms, and graceful style. He was deeply influenced by classical poets, especially Horace. Many of Frost’s earliest poems are as richly developed as his later ones. Frost is sometimes praised for being a direct and straightforward writer. While he is never obscure, he cannot be always read easily.