Family

Robert Frost was born March 26, 1874 in Francisco, California. He spent the first 11 years of his life in California until his Father William Prescott died of tuberculosis. So he then had to move in with his mother and sister in Lawrence Massachusetts. Frost then met his future love and wife in Lawrence High School. In 1894 he had his first poem “My Butterfly: an Elegy” it was published in The Independent, a weekly literary Journal based in New York. Frost then proposes to Elinor after she graduated college. They had their first child in 1896 his name was Elliot. Frost then moved to go to Harvard but then dropped out because of possible health concerns. He then moved back with his wife Elinor and they had their second child Lesley in 1899. Frost and Elinor decided to move to a farm in New Hampshire for 12 years. It was an effective time for his writing because it was a hard time in his life. Elliot their son had died in 1900 from cholera. After his death Elinor had four more children a son carol born in 1902 who committed suicide in 1940. They then had another child in 1903 named Irma she developed a mental illness. They then had another child Marjorie in 1905 she then died in in her late 20’s after giving birth. They had their last child Elinor who then died a few weeks after birth. Robert used his struggles and turned them into poems. Two poems were published in 1906 “The Tuft of Flowers” and “The Trial by Existence”. Not to long after Frost and Elinor sold the farm and moved to England with family. Frost then found some in England to print his first books of poems. Not to long after they were forced to move back to America because of World War 1. They moved to Franconia, New Hampshire. Frost then suffered another tragic when Elinor died in 1938. Frost was awarded for the Congressional Gold Medal from John F. Kennedy in 1960. He then took a tour to the soviet Union. Frost then died on January 29, 1963 in Boston, Massachusetts from surgery complications.

What kind of poetry did Robert Frost write?

Robert Frost had a purpose for writing his poetry he wanted to make a difference wanted people to see that his poetry was just more than words on a paper.”Frost said his goal is if poetry isn’t understanding at all, the whole world, then it isn’t worth anything”. He wanted others to think deeper about what he was trying to say to focus on beautiful images. Some of Frost close readers thought to see that his poetry hinted at something darker. He writes about nature in a way to express what struggles he has faced with the many tragics he has gone through in his life. That meaning there was some darkness in his poems because of the loss of his four children. Frost said “You don’t need to find new things, Just take the old things you find about you the things people known all their lives and say them you're style”. That’s what he did he showed his style in his poetry through nature and darkness.

What inspired him to write and how did his poetry influence others?

Robert Frost had a great influence on poetry and his readers. Poem is “never a put-up job, it begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a loneliness”. Frost complicated his problem and enriched the style by setting traditional meters against the natural rhythm of speech. Frost wanted to restore to literature the “sentence sounds that underline the words,” “vocal gestures”. He takes his conversations and takes prosaic patterns and makes them lyrical. He wanted to make poetry natural and wants it to be the staple of his reputation he wanted to voice the struggles he had through nature. Frost was influenced by a good friend of his Edward Thomas. He was a fearless and an influential critic. He told Frost he’s the man with the keys to the paradise of English poetry. They inspired each other not by rhyme but with rhythm. They would visit each other and go on “talking-walks” they would move with instinctive sympathy together. They always talked about the things that they loved the most marriage and friendship, wildfire, poetry and World War 1. Frost said he gave me a stand as a poet, he showed me how to be.

Editor's Biography.com, “Robert Frost Biography.” 12 Dec. 2016, A&E Television Networks, bio.

Hollis, Matthew. “Edward Thomas, Robert Frost and the road to war.” 14 Dec. 2016, <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/29/robert-frost-edward-thomas-poetry> thegaurdian