Robert Lee Frost was a renowned American poet. Robert is renowned for his work which depicted the rural life. He is also known for having commanded American colloquial speech. In his work, Robert showed a clear application of themes excerpted from the 1900s way of life in the rural New England. He used these setting go examine and express the social and philosophical themes of life in the rural areas of New England. Frost received many awards including Pulitzer Prizes and has been frequently quoted in many works. In this paper we are going to examine the life and work of Robert Frost. We will first examine his life and the review some of his work.
Biography of Robert Lee Frost
Robert Frost was born on 26th May 1874 in San Francisco in California. Robert was born to Isabelle Moodie Frost who was a Scottish descendant and William Prescott Frost who had an English descendant. Robert Lee mother was a teacher while his father was a teacher and journalist (Taylor, 1996).
With both of his parent working as teachers, Robert was exposed to books from his early life. Robert spent long hours reading books of famous people like William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and William Wordsworth (Muir, 1995). Robert also had a great love for nature, great outdoor activities and rural countryside. Although Scott was born in the rural area, he however lived for most of his life in the city. He started of with poems while schooling at Lawrence High school and was published the school magazine. His first poem "La Noche Triste" in 1890 introduced him to the world of poetry. At school he also excelled in other subjects like history, botany, Latin, Greek and others. He also participated in co-curricula activities like football. Robert was also to graduate ahead of his class. Robert later went to Dartmouth College and was later accepted as a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity. After school he later returned to teach and work holding various jobs. He once worked as a delivery man delivering newspapers and also worked as a factory laborer. However, for all that time felt that his calling was not in these jobs but rather in poetry.
Robert got is first entry in Poetry in 1894 when his poem "My Butterfly: An Elegy" was published in a leading New York Independent. As he flourished in poetry he achieved one of his lifetime dreams and married Elinor Miriam White in 1895. Miriam was his co-valedictorian and their love had flourished since their high school. They had attended the same his school but parted upon graduation attending different colleges (The Literature Network, 2008). They were blessed with six children
Meanwhile, Robert purchased a farm in Derry Hampshire where he moved his family and started poultry. This period was most trying in his life as he lost his son and his wife in 1907 but he enjoyed farming. While in the peaceful farm, Robert also wrote many poem including "The Mending Wall" published in 1913 and "Hyla Brook" in 1906. His house which he had built on a typical New England style has not been converted to a state historical landmark.
Robert could not stay long in New England and in 1911 he moved to England and settled at Beaconsfield outside the city of London. This was the most important moment in his life as his first collection of poem "A Boy's Will" was published was published by David Nutt in England and later in America by Henry Holt (The Literature Network, 2008). He later taught at Amherst College and published Mountain Interval in 1916. In 1920 he bought the Stone House which has been converted to a museum in South Shaftsbury in Vermont where he wrote many other poems. He died on 29th January 1963 in Boston Massachusetts and was laid down in Old Pennington Cemetery in Shaftsbury Vermont.
Robert Lee Frost hall of fame in his work
The rise of Robert Frost to the hall of fame in poetry was mainly motivated by the quality of his work. His poems reflected the rural life of the people and were a great inspiration. In his work, Robert wrote on important events that were happening in his life in a way that the connection of human life and the events in the surrounding. For example at his hour of death, he wrote "Safe! Now let the night be dark for all of me. Let the night be too dark for me to see, Into the future. Let what will be, be" (The Literature Network, 2008). This has been analyzed as a way in which he accepted what was actually happening in his life. It is seen as a way in which Robert tried to connect with his reality of life and the life to be.
Although Frost work is associated with life and the landscape of the New England, it goes further to explaining the life of other people in different ways. Robert stayed aloof of the poetic movement which was at the time showing his complexity in connection of the universe and the actual life in New England. However his adherence to language as spoken also shows the complexity of his worked which is closely infused with layer of ambiguous and ironical expressions (Poets.org, 2008).
In deed the influence of his work can be seen in President Kennedy speech delivered at Amherst College where he asserted the death of Robert was a great loss to the country and it left a big gap in American spirit. Death of Robert had greatly impoverished the great nation of America but he had left to the nation a legacy that will be cherished forever.
Perhaps the most important factor that propelled Robert to great height in poetry that other poets of the time could not achieve was his use of work to portray huge meaning. He just understood to express this message through the use of literary devices. It is through the use of such literary devices that he can clearly express what will bring the world to and end. For example in one of his most famed poems Fire and Ice, Robert provides the world with two paths that their life will ultimately follow, which are the fire and ice (The Literature Network, 2008)..