Robert Frost18741963

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Robert Frost(1874-1963)

• ? 4 Pulitzer Prizes
• ? read poetry at a presidential
  inauguration.
• ? received honorary degrees from 44 colleges
• ? unofficial poet Laureate, one of the most
  celebrated Americans modernist poets

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I.Biographical Introduction

• born in San Francisco in 1874.
• his mother brought him to New England at his
  eleven, with which his poetry has always been
  associated.
• After graduating from high school in 1892, Frost
  entered Dartmouth College but soon left to work
  at old jobs and to write poetry.
• In 1897, he was accepted as a special student by
  Harvard but withdrew after two years because of
  his increasing dislike for academic convention.
  For the next twelve years, Frost made a minimal
  living by teaching and farming while continuing
  to write his poems.

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• In 1912, he and his family moved to England,
  where he found a publisher for his first book of
  verse, A boys will (1913).
• Determined to win recognition in his native land,
  Frost returned to the US and settled on a farm in
  his native land.
• By the end of his life he had become a national
  poet he received honorary degrees from
  forty-four colleges and universities and won four
  Pulitzer Prizes the United States senate passed
  resolutions honoring his birthdays and when he
  was eighty-seven he read his poetry at the
  inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.

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II. Main Works

• A Boys Will 1913
• North of Boston, 1914
• Mountain Interval, 1916
• New Hampshire 1923
• Collected Poems 1930
• A Further Range 1936
• A Witness Tree 1942

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III. Frosts View and Theme

• His poetry concerns New Englands nature. He saw
  nature as a storehouse of analogy and symbol, so
  his concern
• with nature reflected deep moral
  uncertainties.
• His poetry often probes mysterious of darkness
  and irrationality in the bleak and chaotic
  landscapes of an indifferent universe.
• The quest of the solitary person to make sense of
  the world has become the central theme of all
  Frosts collections and made his poetry among the
  most accessible of modern writers.
• The poetry of Robert Frost combined pastoral
  imagery with solitary philosophical themes.

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IV. Frosts Style

• rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of
  his contemporaries, used traditional forms such
  as the blank verse, plain language of rural New
  Englanders, and a graceful style.
• there is a steady tone of wry humor, and a
  virtually inexhaustible verbal grace.
• He used symbols from everyday country life to
  express his deep ideas.
• As a whole, Frosts art is an act of
  clarification, which, without simplifying the
  truth, renders it in some degree accessible to
  everyone.

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V. About the Poem The Road Not Taken

• Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his
  friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had walked
  many times in the woods near London. Frost has
  said that while walking they would come to
  different paths and after choosing one, Thomas
  would always felt wondering what they might have
  missed by not taking the other path.
• About the poem, Frost asserted, You have to be
  careful of that one its a tricky poem very
  tricky. Superficially, the poem has been and
  continues to be used as an inspirational poem,
  encouraging self-reliance, not following where
  others have led. But a close reading of the poem
  proves not so.

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The Framework of the Poem

• Stanza One---- Describes Situations
• Stanza Two---- Decides to Take Less-travelled
  Road
• Stanza Three---- Continues Description of Road
• Stanza Four----Recalls the Road Taken and Not
  Taken

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Appreciating the Poem The Road Not Taken

• Reflective Questions
• 1. According to this poem, is Frost an innovative
  poet or not? Why?
• 2. What does the speaker do when facing two
  diverged roads? What is the speakers initial
  response?
• 3. Describe the similarities and differences of
  these two roads. Why does he choose the other
  road?

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• 4. How do you understand the word sigh?Is it a
  kind of nostalgic relief or regret?
• 5. What might the two roads stand for in the
  speakers mind? (the symbolic meanings)
• 6. Why does Frost himself claim that this is a
  tricky poem? What does he want to convey in this
  poem?

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4. How do you understand the word sigh?Is it a
kind of nostalgic relief or regret?

• The word sigh is a tricky word. Because sigh
  can be interpreted into nostalgic relief or
  regret. If it is the relief sigh, then the
  difference means the speaker feels glad with the
  road he took. If it is the regret sigh, then the
  difference would not be good, and the speaker
  would be sighing in regret. Hence, sigh is
  ambigous here for the speaker is not showing
  whether his choice is right or wrong.

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5. What might the two roads stand for in the
speakers mind?

• Clearly, this poem is endowed with abundant
  symbolic meanings. In the speakers mind, the two
  roads not only refer to the real roads he has to
  take while walking in the yellow wood, more
  sigificantly, it means two different ways of life
  when one hesitates before the lifes crossroad.
  Different choices will lead to different futures.
  
• For the poet, it also shows his attitude towards
  poetry creation. He prefers to take the
  less-travelled road suggests that he doesnt
  follow suit but employs the traditional pattern
  in spite of the influence of modernist
  innovation

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6. Why does Frost himself claim that this is a
tricky poem? What is the theme this poem?

• Three things make his poem tricky---- the time
  frame, and the words sigh and difference.
• Traditionally, this poem has been understood as
  an inspirational poem, seeming to encouraging
  people to be self-reliant and not following where
  others have led. Actually, it does not moralize
  about choice, it simply says that choice is
  inevitable but you never know what your choice
  will mean until you have lived it. This is also
  the theme of the poem.

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• Thats all,
• Thank you!