Robert Frost

Robert Frost – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the life, poetry, legacy, and famous sayings of Robert Frost (1874-1963), the American poet known for capturing New England, nature, human psychology, and timeless wisdom in simple yet profound language.

Introduction

Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) stands as one of America’s most beloved and celebrated poets. His work combines New England rural settings, nature imagery, colloquial speech, and deep philosophical undertones. Though he often seemed simple on the surface, his poems explore human choices, mortality, identity, solitude, and the margins between the ordinary and the profound. Over his life he won four Pulitzer Prizes and came to be respected both by the public and the literary critics.

Early Life and Family

• Frost was born in San Francisco, California to William Prescott Frost Jr., a journalist, and his wife Isabelle Moodie.

• When Robert was about 11, his father died of tuberculosis, and his mother moved the family to Lawrence, Massachusetts, to live near Frost’s paternal grandparents.

• He had one younger sister, Jeanie.

Youth and Education

• Frost attended Lawrence High School, where he was co-valedictorian with Elinor White (his future wife). He also published some of his first poems in high school.

• He briefly attended Dartmouth College in 1892, then later Harvard University, though he never earned a degree.

• During early adulthood, he tried various jobs—teaching, working in mills, farming—all while writing. These experiences shape much of his poetic sensibility.

Career and Achievements

Early Publishing and Move to England

• For many years, Frost struggled to publish a full collection. He eventually moved with his family to England in about 1912, where publishers were more receptive. There, he published A Boy’s Will (1913) and then North of Boston (1914).

• North of Boston introduced many poems that would become staples, such as "Mending Wall," "The Death of the Hired Man," "After Apple-Picking."

Return to New England, Poet’s Life, and Recognition

• After the outbreak of World War I, Frost returned to New England (1915 onward) and continued writing, farming, teaching, and lecturing.

• Over his career he published many poetry collections, earning four Pulitzer Prizes:

  1. New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes (1923)

  2. Collected Poems (1930)

  3. A Further Range (1937)

  4. A Witness Tree (1942)

• He also had teaching and residency posts at institutions like Amherst College, Harvard, Dartmouth, etc.

Historical Milestones & Context

• Frost’s life spanned a time of great transformation in the U.S.: industrialization, the two World Wars, the Great Depression. Yet many of his poems focus on nature and rural life, using them as lenses to explore deeper human truths.

• His early move to England and associations with literary figures there helped launch his career. Returning to New England, he became strongly associated with that region in poetry.

• In public life, one milestone was his participation in John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration in 1961, where he recited “The Gift Outright.”

Legacy and Influence

• Frost is widely regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, equally popular with general readers and admired by scholars.

• Many of his poems are taught in schools; lines from his works are often quoted in speeches and ceremonies ("The Road Not Taken," “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” etc.).

• He influenced later poets in how to fuse traditional poetic forms (meter, rhyme) with natural speech, colloquial diction, and local detail.

• His poetry often deals with universal human concerns—choices, mortality, solitude, the passage of time—so his work remains relevant beyond New England or American contexts.

Personality and Talents

• Frost was skilled technically: his command of meter, form, rhyme, yet balanced by conversational tone. He often used traditional forms rather than fully embracing free verse.

• He had a keen observational eye for nature—both its beauty and its darker aspects. His poems often show that what seems peaceful may hold uncertainties or dangers, etc.

• He experienced much personal tragedy: the death of his father when he was young, deaths among his children, financial struggles, etc. These shaped the emotional texture of his work.

Famous Poems & Representative Works

Some of his most famous poems/works include: