How Robert Frost’s Poems Reflected His Life: Research Paper
Robert Frost is one of America’s greatest poets. He was born on March, 26 1874 and died January 29, 1963. He wrote several books in England as an American author. He suffered from depression and had several occurrences of death and crisis in his life, that he wrote about. He was alive during both world wars. He wrote poems about each war, one being “soldier” written about his friend edward thomas who died due to a shell burst in france during World War I. He wrote mainly about nature and things he saw or experienced. Robert Frost wrote more than ten books that were published and a lot of other poems that were not published.
Robert Frost’s poems reflect his life because of his family’s deaths and crisis, how it resembles his life through his reflection of nature, and his symbolism on certain things such as “the Mending Wall” and “the Road not Taken”. Robert Frost’s dad, William Prescott Frost jr. a journalist for the San Francisco Bulletin, died of tuberculous on May 5, 1885 when Robert Frost was just eleven years old. Robert Frost’s mother, Isabelle Moodie, suffered from depression at an early age that progressed through her later life. Robert Frost’s mother developed breast cancer and went through chemotherapy successfully, she died of heart failure days later in 1900. Robert Frost met his wife, Elinor White, when he attended Lawrence high school. Robert Frost had 6 children before his wife died of a heart attack in 1938. There first son, Elliot Frost, died of cholera before his fourth birthday. Robert Frost’s second child, Lesley Frost Ballantine, was born in 1900 and had no real problems and out lived frost the first of two children to out live Frost. Robert Frost wrote a poem to Lesley Frost called “The Last Word of A Blue Bird, ” this poem is Robert telling his daughter Lesley that her bird was migrating for the winter and that she should not feel bad because her bird will come back and sing in the spring. Robert says in this poem that “he came down To tell Lesley (will you?) That her little Bluebird Wanted me to bring word That the north wind last night That made the stars bright And made ice on the trough Almost made him cough His tail feathers off He just had to fly! But he sent her Good-by, ” Robert Frost’s third child, Carol Frost, was born in 1902 and became a poet. In 1940, Carol Frost committed suicide because he felt he would not be as great of a poet as his dad. Robert Frost’s fourth child, Irma Frost, developed a mental illness and was committed to a mental hospital she was the second of the two Frost children to out live Robert Frost. Robert Frost’s fifth child was born in 1905, Marjorie Frost, died in her 20s during childbirth.
Robert Frost’s sixth and last child, Elinor Bettina Frost, was born on June 20, 1907 and died the next day on June 21, 1907. Robert Frost wrote a poem called “Home Burial” in 1914 in which he states “Can’t a man speak of his own child he’s lost?” which is talking about his son Elliot’s death. Robert Frost developed depression and it worsened as each child died. He later needed prostate surgery, which was successful, and then died of heart failure on January 29, 1963. Robert Frost mentions his depression subtly in his poem “Into My Own” where he says “To overtake me, who should miss me here And long to know if still I held them dear. They would not find me changed from him they knew — Only more sure of all I thought was true. ” Frost says “to overtake me who should miss me here”, in this he is contemplating if he is really worth anything or if anyone would actually miss him if he died. He then says “who longs to know if still I hold them dear, ” he is saying who longs, or has a strong desire, to know if he still cares about anyone. Robert says “they would not find me changed from he they knew, ” he is saying that he is the same person everyone knew him as but he was struggling. William Pritchard states that “Robert Frost felt compelled to respond to earthshaking world events like the dropping of the atomic bomb. ” This is said because Robert Frost wrote a poem called “A Soldier” which is about a fallen soldier. Robert Frost is trying to get you to focus not on that the soldier died, but rather what he died for.
Robert frost has another poem called “Out, Out” which is basically a poem about Robert Frost witnessing a little kid accidently cutting off his hand with a power saw and ended up dying. Robert Frost tended to write poems based on nature he experienced. Robert Frost lived and grew up in Massachusetts with his mother after his dad died. Robert frost moved to New Hampshire in 1900 to take up farming. Frost wrote a book called “New Hampshire” which is his longest poem and its all of his thoughts that he experienced in his time in New Hampshire.
Robert Frost has a poem titled “The Pasture” in which he talks about a farmers duties on the farm, this is a reflection of his duties as a farmer. Robert Frost moved to England and published 2 books. Robert Frost published “A Boy’s Will” and “North Of Boston” while he is in England. Robert Frost moved back to New Hampshire before the start of World War I. Robert Frost spent 40 years of his life as an unknown poet until he returned back home from England. When Robert Frost returned to New Hampshire he settled on another farm. Robert Frost then moves to Vermont and buys a second farm. He then moves back to Massachusetts and lives out the rest of his life until he dies. Robert Frost’s likes writing about nature, he has a poem titled “Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening” in which he describes beautiful woods that he wishes he could admire longer, but has other obligations to adhere to. Robert Frost tended to write about rural landscapes, due to him living on farms in rural places, and use various symbols to associate nature to a part of everyday life. Robert Frost talks about a time when a bird would sing every morning on his porch and he wishes that it would just go away. He tries clapping to scare it off, when he has had enough of this singing, but that would not always work. He then says that he is partly faulted, and that had nothing to do with the birds tone or song. He then says there has to be something wrong with him if he wants to silence any song. This is all mentioned in the poem “A Minor Bird” written back on his farm in New Hampshire.
Robert Frost wrote “Sitting By a Bush in Broad Sunlight” which is about him literally sitting by a bush on a sunny day which he got the inspiration for this poem. Robert Frost uses a lot of symbolism in his writings. In the poem “The Road not Taken” Robert Frost talks about decisions he had to make in life. He says that there are two roads that forked out and he felt bad he couldn’t walk both paths. He stood and looked at both roads for a while and looked to see how far he could see down each path. He picks a path, that looked just as good as the other one, that is in need of some wear because it is grassy and a little overgrown. He says that the paths are really no different than each other, other than one being a little more overgrown than the other. He says he took the road less travelled and that it made all the difference. The symbolism here is there is always a “road” taken when making a decision, good or bad, and that it makes a difference in a person’s life significantly, and makes them think what would have happened if they chose the other road instead.
Another symbolic Robert Frost poem is “Mending Wall. ” This poem is about to neighbors who have a wall separating their properties. The speaker says that “something there is that does not love a wall” meaning that something out in the country does not like the fact there is a wall. This something always freezes the ground and makes the ground and wall swell causing the top rocks, or boulders, of the wall tumbling to the ground. The speaker and his neighbor have to get together every spring and just walk up and down their sides of the wall checking for parts of the wall that need mending. They repair the wall to where there is not a single stone left on the ground because it was put back onto the wall. The speaker tries explaining to the neighbor that he is an apple farmer and that the neighbor grows pine trees, the speaker says that the apples will not be on his side and that they will not affect his pine tree growth. The neighbor will not listen to what the speaker has to say and instead says “good fences make good neighbors”. The speaker then gets the idea to mess with the neighbor by thinking of questions to ask him like “why do fences make good neighbors? Is that not applied to only when cows are present? There are no cows here”. The speaker is then contemplating, while building the wall, what is he “walling in or walling out” because something out there obviously does not like this wall. There are three different types of symbolism in this poem one being a shared obligation. The speaker believes that there is no real point in even having this wall in the first place. The speaker also does not like the phrase “good fences make good neighbors” used by the neighbor. The speaker just feels he has to mend the wall because his neighbor demands the wall to be mended, so the speaker shares responsibility in mending the wall.
The second type present is the idea of being seperate or having separation, this is what seems to be the stance of the neighbor. The neighbor also sees no practical use for this wall in terms of keeping out cattle, sheep, chickens or other livestock. The neighbor is very insistent that the wall be there to divide the land, and that it should be mended every spring. The neighbor repeats “good fences make good neighbors” and it works because the wall sets a boundary that will, in turn, prevent any misunderstandings or any other type of skirmish between the two neighbors. The third symbolism is just that the wall itself can just symbolize the type of neighbors they are to each other in terms of their relationship with each other. The speaker thinks that him and his neighbor have nothing in common besides mending the wall together every spring. While they might only mend the wall they may, in a way, try and work together and keep their relationship as neighbors well and good. This mending of the wall gives the two a chance to just work together to accomplish the same goal, in turn making them better neighbors. The last symbolic poem going to be used is “Stopping By The Woods On a Snowy Evening”.
This is a poem about someone stopping by woods on a snowy evening, hints the title, and admiring the scene. He says the owner of the house located in the woods will not see him stop to watch his woods fill with snow on this evening. The speaker says his horse is queer, confused, as to why they are stopping when there is not a “farmhouse” anywhere around them. The speaker then says “the woods are lovely dark and deep, and that he has promises he has to keep and many more miles to go before he goes to sleep”. The symbolism in this poem is a little easier to see or understand. The speaker stops to admire these beautiful woods being covered in snow one evening. He wishes he can stay all night then realizes that he has promises to keep. These promises being fairly important obligations he has to take care of, so he can not stay. In the poem Frost says “miles to go before i go to sleep”. The miles being experiences in life everyone experiences, Frost is saying he wish he could stay but there are other experiences he has to go through before he “goes to sleep”. Robert frost says miles to go before he goes to sleep, so he has experiences he has left to enjoy, or hate, before he “goes to sleep”. He uses this “go to sleep” as a symbol or metaphor for death, he is saying there are other experiences left in his life before he “goes to sleep”, or dies.
Robert Frost will forever be one of America’s greatest poets. He had that unique writing style of England and North American authors while also writing stuff he saw or experienced. He had a lot of struggles to deal with including the frequent death of family members and his depression. He enjoyed writing about nature and just stuff around him simplistic yet intricate. He also enjoyed the implied symbolism or the thought of symbolism people had about his poems. This is all how Robert Frost’s poems reflected his life through death and crises, nature, and symbolism whether he intended it or not.
