| Robert Frost
(March 26, 1874 - January 29, 1963) was, in the estimation of many
Americans, the greatest American poet of the 20th century, and one
of the greatest poets writing in English of the 20th century. Frost
received 4 Pulitzer Prizes.
Frost, although most associated with New England, was born in San
Francisco and lived in California until he was 11. Frost grew up
as a city boy and published his first poem in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
He attended Dartmouth College and Harvard University but did not
complete a degree. But he purchased a farm in Derry, New Hampshire
and eventually became known for a wry voice that was both rural
and personal.
In 1912 he sold his farmand moved to England to become a full-time
poet. His first book of poetry, A Boy's Will, was published the
next year. He returned to America in 1915, bought a farm in Franconia,
New Hampshire and launched a career of writing, teaching and lecturing.
He recited his work, "The Gift Outright", at the inauguration
of President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and represented the United
States on several official missions.
He also became known for poems that include an interplay of voices,
such as "Death of the Hired Man". American schoolchildren
often memorize his poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".
Other poems include "Mending Wall", "Birches",
"After Apple Picking", "The Pasture", and "Fire
and Ice". |