Family Letters of Robert and Elinor Frost

by Robert Frost

Book by Frost, Robert, Frost, Elinor

Genres: Biography

293 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Flinty, moody, plainspoken and deep, Robert Frost was one of America's most popular 20th-century poets. Frost was farming in Derry, New Hampshire when, at the age of 38, he sold the farm, uprooted his family and moved to England, where he devoted himself to his poetry. His first two books of verse, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), were immediate successes. In 1915 he returned to the United States and continued to write while living in New Hampshire and then Vermont. His pastoral images of apple trees and stone fences -- along with his solitary, man-of-few-words poetic voice -- helped define the modern image of rural New England. Frost's poems include "Mending Wall" ("Good fences make good neighbors"), "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ("Whose woods these are I think I know"), and perhaps his most famous work, "The Road Not Taken" ("Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- / I took the one less traveled by"). Frost was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times: in 1924, 1931, 1937 and 1943. He also served as "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress" from 1958-59; that position was renamed as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry (or simply Poet Laureate) in 1986.

Frost recited his poem "The Gift Outright" at the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy... Frost attended both Dartmouth College and Harvard, but did not graduate from either school... Frost preferred traditional rhyme and meter in poetry; his famous dismissal of free verse was, "I'd just as soon play tennis with the net down."

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was just a ton of small talk. I found it incredibly boring. Only a few comments about poetry, and, to tell the truth, Frost could be a bit of a snot.

He believes rhyming should be natural. I always love a poem where I don't notice the rhymes.

Quote: "All poetry has always said something and implied the rest." I am not a believer in absolutes about poetry, but that is as close as you can get.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressed by the devotion and support Robert and Elinor gave to their children. These letters demonstrate the genuine concern for the well-being of each of their children. They encouraged them, challenged them, and always 'had their back.'