Robert Frost

1. RobertFrost Adv. English 11 for Mr. Van Zoost by Maddy Tracey

2. Robert Frost • Birth: San Francisco, March 26th, 1874 • Death: January 29th, 1963 • Married: Elinor Miriam White, December 19th,1895 – March 26th, 1938 • Parents: father:William Prescott Frost, Jr. -journalist, 1985ish mother: Isabelle Moodie, November 1900 • Siblings: sister • Children: son, named Elliot in 1896 – July 8th, 1900 daughter, named Lesley son, named Carol –1940 daughter, named Marjorie - 1934 • Education: High School: Lawrence High School (Massachusetts) University: Dartmouth College Harvard (special student)

3. Robert Frost- Career • Started: writing poems while attending high school. • Published: 1st 'My Butterfly: An Elegy' - 1894 A Boy’s Will – March, 1912 A Witness Tree -1942 A Masque of Reason - 1945 A Masque of Mercy - 1947 Steeple Bush - 1947 • Worked as: a teacher, reporter, and other random jobs

4. Robert Frost – Key things • Had to try many times for Elinor. • Grandfather Frost was very useful, providing the money for many things. • Felt son’s death was his fault. • Moved to England on September 2nd, 1912. • Returned to the United States in February, 1915. • Traveled on many good will missions. • Last fourteen years of his life, he was the most esteemed American poet of the twentieth century. • Twelve day trip to USSR, by President’s request to meet fellow writers.

5. Entered hospital in December, 1962, after his last address at the Ford Forum Hall in Boston, where he stayed until his death. • Many people had mixed feelings on Frost’s writing, some felt it was sad, others praised him.

6. Robert Frost-After death • A family & friend service was held at the Harvard Memorial Church on January 31st, 1963 • A public service, of 700, was held at Amherst College Chapel, on February 17th, 1963. • At the dedication of the Robert Frost Library at Amherst, in October 1963, President Kennedy said about his writing, "its tide that lifts all spirits," and of him "whose sense of the human tragedy fortified him against self-deception and easy consolation."

7. The Road Not Taken 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.

8. Connections I’ve Made… “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood “ Yellow wood. Maybe the yellow is representing caution, to slow down, take a moment to ponder. “Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear;” As just as fair. It was fair for he could see no reason not to take it. Grass only grows in a path when it has not been walked through, where there is grass in this path, it is the less taken route. “Somewhere ages and ages hence:” He believes that time has stopped, and there are those awaiting his decision. Possibly because his choice may affect their lives. This is my favorite poem. To me he is discussing the choices we make in life, and the struggle we have at each corner.

9. Fire and Ice Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

10. What the poem is saying to me… “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.” Each person has their own opinion. “But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate” He is relating fire to burning and torture, which he then connects to hate, which he has seen enough of. “To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.” He believes that ice would get the job done, but in a nicer, more pleasant way. The poem ends up asking two questions commonly thought about, how will the world terminate? And which would be the best way for it to occur?

11. Mowing There was never a sound beside the wood but one, And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground. What was it it whispered? I know not well myself; Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun, Something perhaps, about the lack of sound– And that was why it whispered and did not speak. It was not dream of the gift of idle hours, Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf: Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows, Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers (Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake. The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows. My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

12. “Something perhaps, about the lack of sound– And that was why it whispered and did not speak. “ The person is whispering about the lack of sound, possibly because he may feel uncomfortable talking at a normal voice when everything around is so quite. “It was not dream of the gift of idle hours, Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:” It wasn’t a trick, dream, or imaginary vision, like fools gold given by a leprechaun. He knows that it is not talking about something imaginary or dreamy.

13. My poem untitled Each night when you sit to pray, Do you believe someone is listening? Believing the character you portray, With the passing of each day-to-day, Without an ounce of questioning? So you are telling me, You are the act you show? You best not lie to thee, For there is a fee, Don’t stoop that low. For each sin you repeat, Does not go unseen, Face the feat, Face the heat, No one tries to be that mean. Lucky for you, God will forgive. Doesn’t matter what you do, Doesn’t matter what, nor who, One more chance to live.

14. How is mimicked Robert Frost’s writing style… I adapted the style of Robert Frost, for the poem, by using the same rhyme scheme as he did for The Road Not Taken, I also used basic language and a sombre theme as he did with many of his poems, such as Fire and Ice.

15. Bibliography • Pritchard, W. (2000). Frost's Life and Career Oxford University Press. Retrieved December 6, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/life.html • Burnshaw, S. (2000). Frost's Life and Career Oxford University Press. Retrieved December 6, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/life.html