Great American Poet Eva Sheppard 09/06/14 6 th period

Born: March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, CA Died: January 29, 1963 in Boston, MA Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, United States Poet Laureate Children: Lesley Frost Ballantine, Irma Frost, Elliot Frost, Marjorie Frost, Elinor Bettina Frost, Carol Frost Education: Harvard University (1897–1899), Dartmouth College ABOUT ROBERT FROST

Robert Frost lived with his father in California for 12 years of his life until his father died of tuberculosis. After his father’s passing, he moved with his mother and sister to the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. They moved in with his grandparents, and Frost attended Lawrence High School, where he met his future love and wife, Elinor White, his co- valedictorian. After his high school graduation in 1892, Frost attended Dartmouth University for several months, returning home to work some unfulfilling jobs. HIS CHILDHOOD

In 1894, he had his first poem, "My Butterfly: an Elegy," published in The Independent, a weekly literary journal based in New York City. With this success, Frost proposed to Elinor, who turned him down because she wanted to finish school first. Frost then decided to leave on a trip to Virginia, and when he returned, he proposed again. By then, Elinor had graduated from college, and she accepted. They married on December 19, 1895, and had their first child, Elliot, in HIS FIRST POEM

In 1897, Frost attended Harvard University, but had to drop out after two years due to health concerns. He returned to Lawrence to join his wife, who was now pregnant with their second child, Lesley, who suffered from mental illness. In 1900, Frost moved with his wife and children to a farm in New Hampshire. They attempted to make a life on it for the next 12 years. It was a fruitful time for his writing, but a very difficult time for his personal life. NEW LIFE

Elinor gave birth to four more children, Carol (1902); Irma (1903), who later developed mental illness; Marjorie (1905); and Elinor (1907), and two of the Frost children died. Elliot died of cholera in 1900, and Elinor died of complications from birth just weeks after she was born. Additionally, during that time, Frost and Elinor tried several endeavors, including poultry farming, all of which were unsuccessful. CHILDREN

Frost acclimated himself to rural life. In fact, he grew to depict it quite well, and began setting many poems in the countryside. While two of these, "The Tuft of Flowers" and "The Trial by Existence," would be published in 1906, he could not find any publishers who were willing to underwrite his other poems. POETICAL SUCCESS

Robert Frost wrote many poems. He wrote "Out, Out - “, A Boundless Moment, A Brook in the City, A Cliff Dwelling, A Considerable Speck, A Dream Pang, A Girl's Garden, A Late Walk, A Line-Storm Song, A Minor Bird, A Patch of Old Snow, A Peck of Gold, A Prayer in Spring, A Question, A Servant to Servants, A Soldier, A Time to Talk, Acquainted with the Night, After Apple-Picking, An Encounter, An Old Man's Winter Night, Asking for Roses, and so many more. POEMS

In the late 1950s, Frost, along with Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Eliot, championed the release of his old acquaintance Ezra Pound, who was being held in a federal mental hospital for treason. Pound was released in 1958, after indictments were dropped. In 1962, Frost visited the Soviet Union on a goodwill tour. His announcement that Americans are "too liberal to fight," when he visited the Soviet Premier Khrushchev, caused a lot of grief. That same year, Congress awarded Frost the Congressional Gold Medal. Frost was a great American poet. He was asked to recite a poem for President John F. Kennedy's inauguration at the age of 86. with his sight failing at this time, he recited the poem “The Gift Outright,” which he had recited from memory. LITERARY LEGACY

Robert Frost: A Biography by Jeffrey Meyers SITES AND BOOKS