Student Essay on The Poetry of Robert Frost

The Poetry of Robert Frost

Summary:   Robert Frosts's writings have influenced so many people and instilled such dynamism to American culture, he has been dubbed "America's Poet". His descriptions of nature, his talks of love, and his ideas that just flow from his mind would not have been possible without the influence of his wife and the natural surroundings of his farm in rural New England.

The Poetry of Robert Frost

The poetry of Robert Frost has been very influential in American culture, so much that he has been called America's Poet. In his poems, he focuses on nature, love, and "the dream world of possibility" (Cramer 39). Living on a New England farm, he was inspired by many of his surroundings that kept him secluded from the industrial world as well as his wife, who was also very influential in his poems. His most famous poem, "The Road Not Taken" has a unique style and displays a very important message as well as many of his other poems which give the reader a real insight to who he is as a person and what his poetry is all about.

Living in the country side of New England, Frost started writing poems at the very young age of 11. (Burnshaw 13) His first published poem was called "La Noche Triste" which means "The Sad Night." It was about the invasion of the Aztecs by Cortes and the Spanish Conquistadors, and it focused on the theme of bravery and heroism. (Cramer 194) He continued to write in high school, where he won many awards and was able to graduate with honors and go to Dartmouth College. However, he didn't stay there long because he transferred to Harvard. But he also soon realized that Harvard wasn't for him as well, so he dropped out of college altogether. It wasn't exactly a bad thing for Frost because he was able to pick up odd jobs, such as teaching, but he always kept writing. ( www.ketzle.com/frost) This is also the time when he met his wife Elinor Miriam White, who became a huge influence on his poetic lifestyle. They moved to their own farm in the country and settled down so that Frost could write and work in peace.

Living side by side with nature and reading the writings of many other authors such as Ezra Pound, Lascelles Abercrombie, Rubert Brooke and T.E. Hulme really influenced Frost because his poems reflect the beauty and love of nature as well as its control over humanity. But most importantly, he was most alike to the John Greenleaf Whittier. Some people even called Frost "Whittier without whiskers" (Rexworth 30) because of their similar style when talking about nature and the American public. During his time as a writer he was categorized as a Realist writer with a "Yankee-hermit persona" because of his style about writing about nature that is secluded from the industrial part of the city. (Rexwroth 30) His poems have also been categorized into four separate categorizes, namely traditional, experimental, regional, and universal. These categorizes show how Frost is considered "America's Poet" because of his mastering and diversity of the poetic language. He is also seen as "a pioneer in the interplay of rhythm and meter and in the poetic use of the vocabulary and inflections of everyday speech." (Winnick)

His first book entitled "A Boy's Will" was a complication of all his best works. It was published in 1913, but that does not necessarily mean that all the poems where written at that time. It's name comes from a Henry Wordsworth poems called "My Cost Youth" which talks about "how a boy's will is the wind's will...and the thoughts of Youth are long, long thoughts." (Cramer 11) It included poems called "Ghost House", "Storm Fear", "October", "My Butterfly" and "The Trial by Existence." The book was published first in London in 1913, but soon published later in America where it achieved moderate success. (Cramer 11) It's major focus was on themes such as science, love, death and nature in general. The poem "Ghost House" specifically focuses on a memory of Frost about his old house that burned to the ground. He had many great memories there and he is sad that the house is gone. (Cramer 14) The poem "Storm Fear" talks about his fears during huge snow storms, and is even said to have been written during one of the bad storms that the poem discusses. (Cramer 16)

Frost often read his poems out loud, which he felt gave them more meaning. He would be called to parties and gatherings to read his poems aloud. However, he wouldn't read all of his poems to an audience because some of them, he felt were too personal. An example of this would be the poem of "Waiting Afield at Dusk." It talked about his dreams and wishes, thus he felt it was inappropriate reading it vocally. In response to not reading a poem out loud, Frost often read one of his favorite poems, "The Tuft of Flowers" which he wrote to "come back to people" (Lathem 45).

The original publication of Frost's "A Boy's Will" excluded 3 poems, "Asking for Roses", "In Equal Sacrifice", and "Spoils of the Dead." There is no real reason for Frost excluding these poems except that he didn't think they were worthy enough. However, "Asking for Roses" was later added to the more recent publications of "A Boy's Will"; the other two were never published. (Cramer 12)

Frost's second book, "North of Boston", a name that he got from a Boston newspaper, is Frost's second book of poems. Though it was a lot smaller than his first, it still packs a punch as one of his greatest complications of poems. He wrote it because he was "compounded of homesickness and the delight have having new friendships" (Cramer 28). It consists of 8 poems which include an elegy, comedy, a monologue, a tragedy, yarn, idyll, descriptions of nature, and a eclogue. Each poem was written about one particular thing or event rather than an awe-inspiring series of events or something that provokes deep thought. Frost says that the book's main theme is "forgiving people for being people." (Cramer 28)

Frost uses a very interesting style when writing his poems; sometimes he will sit down and just write until he stops, usually yielding many poems. He will then pick the best ones and correct them for days, or even weeks until he feels that it is exactly perfect. Occasionally, he will write a poem that just flows and needs no corrections. The poem "The Death of a Hired Man" (Cramer 31) was one of those poems. It took him two hours, and when he finished, that was that. As one of his longest poems, Frost talks about how a man wanted to die peacefully at his farm house by using a variety of forms of poetry. There is even some dialogue between that man and his wife, which is usually taboo to most poets. The book also included the poem "Home Burial" which hits Frost at a personal level. The poem was inspired by Frost's wife's sister losing their first born son and had a funeral for him at home. (Cramer 34) Like this poem, Frost uses many real events in his life in his poetry.

Frost's third book that he published is titled "Mountain Interval." It was published in 1916 in New York by Henry Holt. This book had a few interesting facts about it that are random, such as Frost wrote six poems in all capitol letters to show emphasis. These poems include "Christmas Tree", "In the Home Sketch", "Birches", "The Hill Wife", "The Baufire", and "Snow." (Winnick)

Specifically, the poem, "Christmas Tree", has a very interesting story as to how it was written. On Christmas morning, Frost had some people over and one of his friends wanted to know how he wrote poetry, so he wrote the poem on the back of Christmas card. He revised it a bit, and it was good enough for him to put it in "Mountain Interval." (Cramer 46)

The one thing that bothered him about "Mountain Interval" was the fact that he felt that it was never really finished. He was pressured to produce the book, and felt that he didn't have ample time to correct every poem to perfection. Therefore, he viewed the book as one of his worst books as a whole, but still liked many of the poems in it. (Cramer 44)

Frost continued to write poems and publish them in various books and news papers all over the country. He began to get certain recognition, but he was shot to fame by his poem "The Road Not Taken." It is highly agreed that his poem is by far his greatest work as a poet.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference." (Frost, 103)

This poem is about a man walking in the woods and coming to a cross road. One way was the way that looked heavily traveled upon with a clear road in it, while the other looked overgrown and less traveled upon. The narrator takes the road that is less traveled and realizes that he made the right choice. The poem can be interpreted in many different ways. It could mean that the hard way in life is better than the easy way, or that a person shouldn't always take the same road, and thus take more risks, or finally it could mean that just because one road in life is harder, doesn't mean that it is going to be worse. (Winnick) Nonetheless, Frost uses great imagery and style to convey his message of the poem. An example would be the lines where Frost describes the two roads, one as "grassy and wanted wear" while the other was "bent in the undergrowth." (Lathem 105) He gives the reader a real feel about the atmosphere, the description of the roads and the amount of thought that went into choose the road less traveled.

Many have wondered what Frost's inspiration for writing this poem was. Frost said that he was walking in the woods looking at flowers with his best friend and they came to a fork in the road. The fork was just like it was described in the poem; with one side looking overgrown and old, and the other way looking well traveled. So, naturally the two went down the road that seemed to be "the road less traveled." But what they saw was absolutely amazing because they saw the most beautiful flowers that Frost has ever seen. So naturally, he decided to write a poem about the event. (Cramer 44)

Frost continued to write poems and put them together in books. One of his next books was entitled New Hampshire which was divided into 3 parts; the first section being the title poem, the second section being call the "Notes" section, and the third section being called the "Grace Notes section." The title poem, "New Hampshire", is the main poem of the book. It was written in one night about what Frost quotes as "how the state has nothing to sell in commercial quantities." (Cramer 61) Other poems that appear in the New Hampshire include "A Star in a Stoneboat", "The Census-Taker", "Maple", "The Grindstone", and "Paul's Wife." So far in his career as a writer, New Hampshire was Frost's largest book of collective poems. Totaling in with 31 poems, it was considered one of his better works along with many of his best poems. (www.ketzle.com/frost)

Frost's largest book that he wrote would be in 1928 when his book West-Running Brook was published by Henry Holt. Instead of dividing it into 3 sections like New Hampshire, Frost divided West-Running Brook into six sections. The first section being "Spring Pools", the second being "Fiat Nox", the third being "West-Running Brook", the fourth being "Sand Dunes", the fifth being "Over Back", and the sixth being "My Native Simile." Again topping New Hampshire, West-Running Brook was Frost's longest book. Originally it had 37 poems in it, but three were later added. (Winnick) Those three include "The Lovely Shall Be Choosers", "What Fifty Said", and "The Egg and the Machine." Frost had a tendency to add poems to his books to create a second edition rather than putting the poems in another new book because he felt that the book would be incomplete with the new additions. (Cramer 87)

Some of the major poems that appear in West-Running Brook include "Fireflies in the Garden", "On Going Unnoticed", "A Passing Glimpse", "A Minor Bird", "Once by the Pacific", "Thatch", and "The Peaceful Shepard." "Fireflies in the Garden" is a poem which Frost uses to describe his other poems. He says that his poems are "fireflies." They represent our lucid intervals and glow only for a moment." (Cramer 88) He also uses the same type of poetic imagery in his poem "A Passing Glimpse" when he describes how we see truth in short glimpses, yet can never retain them long enough to realize that it is true.

Frost is always full of surprises, especially in his poem "Once by the Pacific", where he talks about his love of California and of the ocean. This is unusual for Frost to write about the ocean because he usually never refers to it. But it is not unexpected of him because in the poem he talked about how he grew up near the ocean as a child and was reminiscing. He started writing the poem while he was in college, but he left it unfinished until he was finally able to finish it 46 years later. (Cramer 90)

Again Frost pumped out more books full of poems. His next one was called A Further Range which was published in 1936 and was also divided into six sections. Each section had its own name beginning with section one which is called "Taken Doubly", then section two which is called "Taken singly", followed by section three which was entitled "Ten Mills", which came before section four called "The Outlands", which was followed by section five called "Build Soil", then finally came section six which was called "Afterthought." (Cramer 102) This book was full of Frost's magic. As with many of his previous books he wrote them and dedicated them to his wife. But in A Further Range Frost dedicates the book to his wife and more. "To E.F. for what it may mean to her that beyond the White Mountains were the Green; beyond both were the Rockies, the Sierras, and in thought, the Andes and the Himalayas - range beyond range even into the realm of government and religion." (Cramer 102)

One of the most important poems in this book would be "Two Tramps in Mud Time" which talk about how a man is chopping wood and another man comes by to ask to chop the wood because he feels that he is better qualified to chop the wood because he is a lumberjack. But the man chopping the wood keeps on chopping the wood because he enjoys it. Frost later explained the poem as "Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for the love of it." (Cramer 103)

Other poems in the book worth mentioning are "A Lone Striker", "The Gold Hesperidee" and "On the Heart's Beginning to Cloud the Mind." "A Lone Striker" was inspired by him working as a striker in a mill and being left behind one time, and then the next time he stayed behind on purpose. The poem shows Frost's rebellious attitude to industrialization and how he dealt with it by writing a poem about it. In "The Gold Hesperidee" Frost also shows another side of his writings because he uses Greek Mythological illusions to portray his thoughts and ideas, which is usually uncommon among Frost's writings. (Cramer 105) In the poem "On the Heart's Beginning to Cloud the Mind", which was written in 1934, Frost says that it was written from one small thought about a light in the distance while he was on a train. (Cramer 107)

If Frost could pick one thing that pertained to all his poetry if would be his wife, Elinor White Frost. On many occasions he has said that she is the reason that he would write his poems. This fact is supported that all his books up until her death were dedicated to her. He is also to have said that all his poems that he has written have somehow been influenced by his wife. (Cramer 123)

Considered one of Frost's best achievements was his book A Witness Tree which was published in 1942 by none other than Henry Holt. This book was a big step for Frost because it was the first book that he did not dedicate to his wife; instead it was dedicated "To K.M. for her part in it." (Cramer 123) This meant that it was dedicated to Kathleen Johnston who was the woman in his life that helped him with his wife's death. Some of its major poems include "The Gift Outright", "Carpe Diem", "Our Hold on the Planet", "Lesson for Today", "The Lost Follower" and "A Loose Mountain." Many poems in this books relate to the death of his wife because it was during this time when many of the poems where written. The poem "Carpe Diem" depicts this, and Frost has commented on it saying that it involves his wife and how he "dragged her through pretty much a life for one as frail as she was. Too many children, too many habitations, too many vicissitudes." (Cramer 126) Yet at the same time he wasn't able to realize that he should have "seized the day." Another one of his poems is similar to this theme is "Our Hold on the Planet." This poem talks about life versus death and how as humans we have a slight advantage over death because we are able to use out life to our advantage. (Cramer 126)

Every now and then, Frost will surprise his audience by producing a poem for the purpose of proving a point about a person or something political. In the poem "The Lost Follower", which appears in A Witness Tree, Frost uses the poem to talk about two poets named Jean Flexner and Carter Goodrich. He talks to them through his poetry about how they used their poems to help a candidate in an election. Frost was a hard-line conservative and felt that those Flexner and Goodrich were wrong so he wrote the poem to counteract what they were stating. (Cramer 128)

A man like Robert Frost can't stop writing. As is common among much of his poetry, he will write a poem and publish it in a newspaper or something similar, then later publish it in one of his books. However, there are many poems left, finished and unfinished, that have not been published in a book or some that have not even been published at all. There are countless poems that Frost has written that no one has ever read, but some have been collected and recently published in a collection of Frost's "uncollected and unpublished poetry." (Cramer 193)

One of his uncollected poems would be one of his very first poems "God's Garden." This poem is up for controversy however, because even though it is said to be written by Frost, he doesn't remember writing it. He analyzed the poem and came to the conclusion that he did not write it because he said that he doesn't write in the style that the poem was written in. But many critics still disagree; some even say that his mother helped him with it because many parts of the poem do have certain parts that resemble Frost's writing style. (Cramer 196) Nonetheless, he is still given credit for writing the poem. The poem speaks about a very beautiful garden, comparable to the Garden of Eden. In this garden is one narrow path which leads to heaven if it is followed to the end. However, there are many distractions on the way which can cause the character to go astray such as golden flowers. In a way, this poem relates to life itself in the sense that there is a path that leads to heaven, but it is hard to follow because there are things that lead us away from the path. (Cramer 196)

Throughout Frost's life of living as a humble farmer, his poems and his passions were viewed very highly by the public and he was often rewarded. Four times did he win the Pulitzer Prize for his poetry. He won in 1923 for his poetry in his book New Hampshire, again he won in 1930 for his Collected Poems, and in 1936 he took the prize a third time for his poems in A Further Range, and finally he took the Pulitzer Prize for the fourth and last time for his works in A Witness Tree. (Winnick) On top of all this Frost has also won countless other minor awards given to him by certain organizations and individuals. Today he even has many awards given in his honor such as the "Robert Frost Memorial Award." (Winnick)

Robert Frost's poetry has remained influential to many other poets throughout the 20th century and will most likely carry into the future as a very influential poet. His writings too many people are timeless because the point that the make and the meaning are still very viable today.

His writing have influenced so many people and his ideas and instilled in American culture so many ideas that he has been dubbed "America's Poet" for a reason. With his descriptions of nature, his talks of love, and his ideas that just flow from his mind. Those ideas, however, would not be possible without the influence of his wife and the nature surroundings of his farm in rural New England. But it was through a combination of many things that Robert Frost was able to achieve the status of a true American Poet and by which he was able to write "The Road Not Taken" which helped shape the life of a country and those that lived in it.

Works Cited

Burnshaw, Stanley, Robert Frost Himself, George Braziller, Inc. New York, New York, 1986.

Cramer, Jeffrey S., Robert Frost Among His Poems: A literary Companion to the Poet's Own Biographical Contexts and Associations, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina, 1996.

Frost, Robert, Frost: Collected Poems, Prose & Plays, Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., New York, New York, 1995.

Lathem, Edward Connery, The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged, Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd. Markham, Ontario, 1979.

Lathem, Edward Connery, Interviews with Robert Frost, Jeffrey Norton Publishers Inc., 1997

Rexroth, Kenneth, American Poetry in the Twentieth Century, Herder and Herder New York, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, 1971.

Winnick, R.H.,www.robertfrost.org/indexgood.htm, "The Robert Frost Web Page",

www.ketzle.com/frost, Robert Frost: America's Poet