FREE ESSAY ON ROBERT FROST

ROBERT FROST

Robert Frost
As poets go, Frost (1874-1963) was no longer young when he published his first book of
poems, A Boy's Will, in 1913. Though born in San Francisco, he came of a New England
family which returned to New England when he was ten. Like many other writers, he had a
brief brush with college and then supported himself by various means, ranging from
shoe-making to editing a country newspaper. However, he had been brought up on a farm and
he liked farming. Most of all, he liked to write but he could not support himself by
writing. He was in his late 30s when he moved to England, where he issued his first book
and found an appreciation for his work he had not found in America. At the outbreak of
World War I, Frost went back to farming in New Hampshire. Thereafter, although he made
many journeys and frequent visits elsewhere, he considered the farm his home and its
activities remained the focus of his poetry.
Frost's verses bacame part of a great tradition, shaped by the Roman poet Vergil, of what
is called bucolic poetry-poetry about farming. However, though he used farm situations in
much of his poetry, he gave them a wide application. He might write about stepping on a
rake and describe the feeling when it hit him, but he used the incident to show how life
gives us bruises.
Some talents in poetry are used up early, but not Frost's. He continued to publish fine
poetry for fifty years. He reached the height of his popularity after World War II. If
America of the 20th century had a national poet, it was Frost. He was chosen to read one
of his poems at the inauguration of the late President John F. Kennedy, the first poet
ever so honored.
Because Frost wrote so well for so long, it is hard to select poems to reprint. Here,
however, are two favorites among readers, Mending Wall and The Road Not Taken, plus three
short, lesser known poems.
Mending Wall shows Frost at work with a neighbor, helping to repair a stone wall that
separates their two farms. Frost dislikes walls; his neighbor likes them. We soon see
that the walls Frost is talking about are all the things that separate one human being
from another, all the things in life that keeps us from loving our fellow man. Yet Frost
never makes a sermon of his poem. He teaches the brotherhood of man, but not tediously.
What keeps the poem from being pious is, first, Frost's whimsical humor and, second, the
easy informality of his lines. The poem is written in what is termed blank verse. It has
five beats to a line, and the beat comes on every second syllable. Also, the lines do not
rhyme. But Frost takes the blank-verse form, shakes it up, loosens it, and makes it sound
almost like everyday conversation. The point is, however, that it turns out to be a wise
and beautiful conversation.
The Road Not Taken is set in some woods but the place where it occurs is really anywhere
and any time. It is, so to speak, the land of Might Have Been. We must make a decision.
We Must decide which way to go. This universal dilemma Frost turns into poetry of gentle
yet strong understanding. Here there is nothing local or folksy in the words he uses. His
message is worldwide. He also has fewer of his personal, colloquial rhythms in these
lines than in Mending Wall, and the form of the poem is one of stanzas, each regular in
its arrangement of rhymes.
Fire and Ice, Acquainted with the Night, and Design seem at first reading to be lucidly
simple, yet after better acquaintance they turn out to be rich in hidden meanings. There
is a certain reticence, a teasing indirectness, in Frost's way of telling his thought,
evident in these three short poems. He often leaves the reader to search for any implied
significance and frequently implies a more general meaning to his moral than he seems to
state. He appears not to commit himself to any solution which runs the danger of being
too simple. On one occasion he said: ... I prefer the synecdoche in poetry-that figure of
speech in which we use a part for the whole. Life, as Frost saw it, is full of apparent
paradoxes. It is tragic and hilariously comic, beautiful and ugly, chaotic and unified,
and he refused to take an either/or position, as we will see in such poems as Fire and
Ice and Design. 
Materials Available in American Resource Center
Works by Robert Frost
Frost, Robert, and others. Robert Frost, A Tribute to the Source. New York : Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1979, 165 p. (811 Fro)
Works about Robert Frost
Brower, Reuben Arthur. The Poetry of Robert Frost; Constellations of Intention. New York,
Oxford University Press, 1963, 246 p. (811 Bro) 
Ciffin, Robert P. Tristram. New Poetry of New England: Frost and Robinson. New York :
Russell & Russell, 1938, 148 p. (811 Cof) 
Cook, Reginald Lansing. The Dimensions of Robert Frost. New York, Barnes & Noble, 1958,
241 p. (811 Coo) 
Frost, Robert, and others. Robert Frost, a Tribute to the Source. New York : Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1979, 165 p. (811 Fro) 
Gerber, Philip L. Robert Frost. New York, Twayne Publishers, 1967,1966, 192 p. (811 Ger)

Gerber, Philip L. Critical Essays on Robert Frost. Boston, Mass. : G.K. Hall, 1982, 247
p. (811 Cri) 
Gould, Jean. Robert Frost; The Aim Was Song. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1964, 302 p. (811 Gou)

Lynen, John F. The Pastoral Art of Robert Frost. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1960,
208 p. (811 Lyn) 
Nitchie, George Wilson. Human Values in the Poetry of Robert Frost : A Study of a Poet's
Convictions. Durham, N.C. : Duke University Press, 1960, 242 p. (811 Nit) 
Potter, James Lain. Robert Frost Handbook. University Park : Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1980, 205 p. (811 Pot) 
Pritchard, William H. Frost : A Literary Life Reconsidered. New York : Oxford University
Press, 1984, 286 p. (811 Pri) 
Thompson, Lawrance. Robert Frost : The Years of Triumph 1915-1938. New York : Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1970, 744 p. (811 Tho) 
Thompson, Lawrance Roger. Fire and Ice; The Art and Thought of Robert Frost. New York :
H. Holt and Co., 1942, 241 p. (811 Tho) 
Bibliography
Materials Available in American Resource Center
Works by Robert Frost
Frost, Robert, and others. Robert Frost, A Tribute to the Source. New York : Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1979, 165 p. (811 Fro)
Works about Robert Frost
Brower, Reuben Arthur. The Poetry of Robert Frost; Constellations of Intention. New York,
Oxford University Press, 1963, 246 p. (811 Bro) 
Ciffin, Robert P. Tristram. New Poetry of New England: Frost and Robinson. New York :
Russell & Russell, 1938, 148 p. (811 Cof) 
Cook, Reginald Lansing. The Dimensions of Robert Frost. New York, Barnes & Noble, 1958,
241 p. (811 Coo) 
Frost, Robert, and others. Robert Frost, a Tribute to the Source. New York : Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1979, 165 p. (811 Fro) 
Gerber, Philip L. Robert Frost. New York, Twayne Publishers, 1967,1966, 192 p. (811 Ger)

Gerber, Philip L. Critical Essays on Robert Frost. Boston, Mass. : G.K. Hall, 1982, 247
p. (811 Cri) 
Gould, Jean. Robert Frost; The Aim Was Song. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1964, 302 p. (811 Gou)

Lynen, John F. The Pastoral Art of Robert Frost. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1960,
208 p. (811 Lyn) 
Nitchie, George Wilson. Human Values in the Poetry of Robert Frost : A Study of a Poet's
Convictions. Durham, N.C. : Duke University Press, 1960, 242 p. (811 Nit) 
Potter, James Lain. Robert Frost Handbook. University Park : Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1980, 205 p. (811 Pot) 
Pritchard, William H. Frost : A Literary Life Reconsidered. New York : Oxford University
Press, 1984, 286 p. (811 Pri) 
Thompson, Lawrance. Robert Frost : The Years of Triumph 1915-1938. New York : Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1970, 744 p. (811 Tho) 
Thompson, Lawrance Roger. Fire and Ice; The Art and Thought of Robert Frost. New York :
H. Holt and Co., 1942, 241 p. (811 Tho)