robert frost essay on poetry

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Robert Frost

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When was Robert Frost born, and when did he die?

Robert Frost was born in 1874, and he died in 1963 at the age of 88.

Who were Robert Frost’s children, and when did they live?

Elliott was born in 1896 and died of cholera in 1900. Lesley lived 1899–1983. Carol was born in 1902 and committed suicide in 1940. Irma lived 1903–67. Marjorie was born in 1905 and died from childbirth in 1934. Elinor was born in 1907 and lived only three days.

What was Robert Frost known for?

Robert Frost was known for his depictions of rural New England life, his grasp of colloquial speech, and his poetry about ordinary people in everyday situations.

What were Robert Frost’s most famous poems?

Robert Frost’s most famous poems included “The Gift Outright,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Birches,” “Mending Wall,” “The Road Not Taken,” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

Robert Frost (born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, California , U.S.—died January 29, 1963, Boston, Massachusetts) was an American poet who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England , his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations.

Frost’s father, William Prescott Frost, Jr., was a journalist with ambitions of establishing a career in California, and in 1873 he and his wife moved to San Francisco . Her husband’s untimely death from tuberculosis in 1885 prompted Isabelle Moodie Frost to take her two children, Robert and Jeanie, to Lawrence , Massachusetts , where they were taken in by the children’s paternal grandparents. While their mother taught at a variety of schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Robert and Jeanie grew up in Lawrence, and Robert graduated from high school in 1892. A top student in his class, he shared valedictorian honours with Elinor White, with whom he had already fallen in love.

Robert and Elinor shared a deep interest in poetry , but their continued education sent Robert to Dartmouth College and Elinor to St. Lawrence University. Meanwhile, Robert continued to labour on the poetic career he had begun in a small way during high school; he first achieved professional publication in 1894 when The Independent , a weekly literary journal, printed his poem “My Butterfly: An Elegy.” Impatient with academic routine, Frost left Dartmouth after less than a year. He and Elinor married in 1895 but found life difficult, and the young poet supported them by teaching school and farming, neither with notable success. During the next dozen years, six children were born, two of whom died early, leaving a family of one son and three daughters. Frost resumed his college education at Harvard University in 1897 but left after two years’ study there. From 1900 to 1909 the family raised poultry on a farm near Derry , New Hampshire, and for a time Frost also taught at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry. Frost became an enthusiastic botanist and acquired his poetic persona of a New England rural sage during the years he and his family spent at Derry. All this while he was writing poems, but publishing outlets showed little interest in them.

By 1911 Frost was fighting against discouragement. Poetry had always been considered a young person’s game, but Frost, who was nearly 40 years old, had not published a single book of poems and had seen just a handful appear in magazines. In 1911 ownership of the Derry farm passed to Frost. A momentous decision was made: to sell the farm and use the proceeds to make a radical new start in London, where publishers were perceived to be more receptive to new talent. Accordingly, in August 1912 the Frost family sailed across the Atlantic to England . Frost carried with him sheaves of verses he had written but not gotten into print. English publishers in London did indeed prove more receptive to innovative verse, and, through his own vigorous efforts and those of the expatriate American poet Ezra Pound , Frost within a year had published A Boy’s Will (1913). From this first book, such poems as “Storm Fear,” “The Tuft of Flowers,” and “Mowing” became standard anthology pieces.

A Boy’s Will was followed in 1914 by a second collection, North of Boston , that introduced some of the most popular poems in all of Frost’s work, among them “Mending Wall,” “The Death of the Hired Man,” “Home Burial,” and “After Apple-Picking.” In London, Frost’s name was frequently mentioned by those who followed the course of modern literature , and soon American visitors were returning home with news of this unknown poet who was causing a sensation abroad. The Boston poet Amy Lowell traveled to England in 1914, and in the bookstores there she encountered Frost’s work. Taking his books home to America, Lowell then began a campaign to locate an American publisher for them, meanwhile writing her own laudatory review of North of Boston .

Without his being fully aware of it, Frost was on his way to fame. The outbreak of World War I brought the Frosts back to the United States in 1915. By then Amy Lowell’s review had already appeared in The New Republic , and writers and publishers throughout the Northeast were aware that a writer of unusual abilities stood in their midst. The American publishing house of Henry Holt had brought out its edition of North of Boston in 1914. It became a best-seller, and, by the time the Frost family landed in Boston , Holt was adding the American edition of A Boy’s Will . Frost soon found himself besieged by magazines seeking to publish his poems. Never before had an American poet achieved such rapid fame after such a disheartening delay. From this moment his career rose on an ascending curve.

Frost bought a small farm at Franconia, New Hampshire, in 1915, but his income from both poetry and farming proved inadequate to support his family, and so he lectured and taught part-time at Amherst College and at the University of Michigan from 1916 to 1938. Any remaining doubt about his poetic abilities was dispelled by the collection Mountain Interval (1916), which continued the high level established by his first books. His reputation was further enhanced by New Hampshire (1923), which received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. That prize was also awarded to Frost’s Collected Poems (1930) and to the collections A Further Range (1936) and A Witness Tree (1942). His other poetry volumes include West-Running Brook (1928), Steeple Bush (1947), and In the Clearing (1962). Frost served as a poet-in-residence at Harvard (1939–43), Dartmouth (1943–49), and Amherst College (1949–63), and in his old age he gathered honours and awards from every quarter. He was the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress (1958–59; the post was later styled poet laureate consultant in poetry), and his recital of his poem “The Gift Outright” at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961 was a memorable occasion .

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Robert Frost

Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, where his father, William Prescott Frost, Jr., and his mother, Isabelle Moodie, had moved from Pennsylvania shortly after marrying. After the death of his father from tuberculosis when Frost was eleven years old, he moved with his mother and sister, Jeanie, who was two years younger, to Lawrence, Massachusetts. He became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, enrolled at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1892 and, later, at Harvard University, though he never earned a formal degree.

Frost drifted through a string of occupations after leaving school, working as a teacher, cobbler, and editor of the Lawrence Sentinel . His first published poem, “My Butterfly,” appeared on November 8, 1894 in the New York newspaper The Independent .

In 1895, Frost married Elinor Miriam White, with whom he’d shared valedictorian honors in high school, and who was a major inspiration for his poetry until her death in 1938. The couple moved to England in 1912, after they tried and failed at farming in New Hampshire. It was abroad where Frost met and was influenced by such contemporary British poets as Edward Thomas , Rupert Brooke , and Robert Graves . While in England, Frost also established a friendship with the poet Ezra Pound , who helped to promote and publish his work.

By the time Frost returned to the United States in 1915, he had published two full-length collections, A Boy’s Will (Henry Holt and Company, 1913) and North of Boston (Henry Holt and Company, 1914), thereby establishing his reputation. By the 1920s, he was the most celebrated poet in America, and with each new book—including New Hampshire (Henry Holt and Company, 1923), A Further Range (Henry Holt and Company, 1936), Steeple Bush (Henry Holt and Company, 1947), and In the Clearing (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1962)—his fame and honors, including four Pulitzer Prizes, increased. Frost served as a consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress from 1958–59. In 1962, he was presented the Congressional Gold Medal. 

Though Frost’s work is principally associated with the life and landscape of New England—and, though he was a poet of traditional verse forms and metrics who remained steadfastly aloof from the poetic movements and fashions of his time—Frost is anything but merely a regional poet. The author of searching, and often dark, meditations on universal themes, he is a quintessentially modern poet in his adherence to language as it is actually spoken, in the psychological complexity of his portraits, and in the degree to which his work is infused with layers of ambiguity and irony.

In a 1970 review of The Poetry of Robert Frost , the poet Daniel Hoffman describes Frost’s early work as “the Puritan ethic turned astonishingly lyrical and enabled to say out loud the sources of its own delight in the world,” and comments on Frost’s career as the “American Bard”: “He became a national celebrity, our nearly official poet laureate, and a great performer in the tradition of that earlier master of the literary vernacular, Mark Twain.”

President John F. Kennedy, at whose inauguration Frost delivered a poem, said of the poet, “He has bequeathed his nation a body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding.” And famously, “He saw poetry as the means of saving power from itself. When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”

Robert Frost lived and taught for many years in Massachusetts and Vermont, and died in Boston on January 29, 1963.

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The Cambridge Introduction to Robert Frost

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Book description

Robert Frost is one of the most popular American poets and remains widely read. His work is deceptively simple, but reveals its complexities upon close reading. This Introduction provides a comprehensive but intensive look at his remarkable oeuvre. The poetry is discussed in detail in relation to ancient and modern traditions as well as to Frost's particular interests in language and sound, metaphor, science, religion, and politics. Faggen both looks back to the literary traditions that shape Frost's use of form and language, and forward to examine his influence on poets writing today. The recent controversies in Frost criticism and in particular in Frost biography are brought into sharp focus as they have shaped the poet's legacy and legend. The most accessible overview available, this book will be invaluable to students, readers and admirers of Frost.

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Frontmatter pp i-iv

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Contents pp v-vi

Preface pp vii-vii, acknowledgments pp viii-viii, list of abbreviations pp ix-x, 1 - life pp 1-12, 2 - contexts pp 13-24, 3 - works pp 25-161, 4 - reception pp 162-174, notes pp 175-178, guide to further reading pp 179-184, index pp 185-189, the cambridge introductions to literature pp 190-190, full text views.

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Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

Frequently honored during his lifetime, Frost is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America’s rare “public literary figures, almost an artistic institution”. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont.

#AmericanWriters #PulitzerPrize

Robert Frost: 'Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.'

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.

In his famous quote, Robert Frost defines poetry as the beautiful harmony that occurs when an emotion, thought, and words merge together. It captures the essence of how a poet gives shape and expression to emotions by finding the perfect words to convey their thoughts. Essentially, poetry serves as a medium through which the intangible and fleeting feelings in our hearts materialize into tangible art forms. Frost's words hold immense importance as they highlight the delicate craftsmanship involved in poetry and shed light on the power and significance of this particular art form.Poetry, according to Frost, is synonymous with emotions finding their thoughts. It connects the realm of human emotions, which often bristle with complexity, to the clarity of thoughts. Emotions often surge within us like raging rivers, overwhelming and shapeless. However, when they find the perfect thought, they help shape emotions into tangible forms that can be communicated and shared. Poetry acts as the vessel through which these unspoken emotions are distilled into a tangible expression.Furthermore, Frost emphasizes that the thoughts, once harmoniously united with emotions, find words. Here, words serve as the catalyst for capturing and preserving the deep sentiments; they become the intermediary agents responsible for giving emotions a voice. The poet carefully selects words that best encapsulate the nuances and intensity of their feelings, crafting lines that evoke vivid imagery and create a profound impact on the reader.However, to delve deeper into the philosophical realm of Frost's quote, it is fascinating to consider the idea that emotions themselves are thoughts. Often, emotions are seen as separate from thoughts, having their own enigmatic existence. But what if emotions are, in essence, thoughts in their rawest form? What if they are intricate bundles of thoughts waiting to be unraveled?If emotions are indeed thoughts, then Frost's quote takes on a whole new meaning. Poetry becomes the process of transforming underlying thoughts into spoken or written words, which allows the poet to explore the depths of their emotions and unveil hidden meanings within. It becomes a voyage, where thoughts and emotions intertwine, revealing a deeper understanding of oneself and the world.In contrast to other art forms, poetry holds a distinct advantage in its ability to transcend the limitations of language, enabling a profound connection between the poet and the reader. Its inherent versatility allows it to accommodate a wide range of emotions, thoughts, and experiences. Frost's quote encapsulates this magic, reminding us that poetry provides solace, inspiration, and enlightenment in a world where emotions often remain unspoken.Moreover, Frost's perspective sheds light on the long-lasting impact of poetry. When emotions find their thoughts, and those thoughts find words, they create a profound resonance that can withstand the test of time. The words chosen by a poet can echo through generations, their significance and power reverberating in the hearts of humankind. Poetry gives a voice not only to the poet's emotions but also to the collective human experience, bridging gaps between cultures, eras, and societies.In conclusion, Robert Frost's quote beautifully captures the essence of poetry, illustrating how emotions, thoughts, and words converge to create a harmonious expression. The significance of his words lies in the understanding that poetry acts not only as a vessel but also as a transformative force that unites emotions and thoughts, making the intangible tangible, the fleeting eternal. It invites us to ponder the inherent connection between emotions and thoughts and challenges us to explore the profound depths of our innermost selves. Ultimately, Frost's quote reminds us of the enduring power of poetry to provoke, inspire, and bring solace in a world where emotions often struggle to find their voice.

Simone Weil: 'Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.'

George seaton: 'faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.'.

Robert Frost: Poems

By robert frost, robert frost: poems essay questions.

What is the "sound of sense," and why does Robert Frost use it in his poetry?

The "sound of sense" is a literary theory in which specific syllables and sounds are used to express the subject of a poem in a visceral way. For example, in the poem "Mowing," Frost selects certain terms (such a "whispering") in order to convey an aural sense of the swishing motion of the scythe as it cuts the hay. Frost is very concerned with the clarity and expression of his poetry, particularly in terms of the topic that he is discussing. By using the "sound of sense," Frost is able to layer additional meaning onto each of his works. Instead of absorbing the meaning of the poem solely through visual means, a reader is able to feel and even hear the meaning of the poem on a deeper level.

Why does Frost choose to write about everyday life in a rural environment? What is the effect of this choice on his poetry?

Frost is a major advocate of "reality" in terms of his poetry as a means of discovering greater metaphysical truths. By writing about everyday life instead of imaginary worlds, he is able to layer the basic meaning of his poems over more metaphorical ideas. For example, a poem about taking a sleigh ride through the woods ("Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening") can also be about the threat of death in the changing seasons and the traditional expectations of duty. In this way, his poems may seem to be simplistic on a cursory level, but they are actually multi-faceted in terms of their meaning and appeal. As a result of this choice, Frost allows his readers to become individual explorers in each of his poems. Although the basic meaning of the poem may be spelled out in a clear manner, the reader is left with unending possibilities of analysis and ultimately possesses a greater connection to each poem.

How does Frost use poetic form in unusual ways?

Frost is atypical as a poet because he uses a wide variety of forms and rhyme schemes in his poetry. However, in each case, Frost does not seem to select a specific form simply for the sake of having a difficult form to work with. Instead, he carefully chooses the form that will most clearly express the idea and meaning of his poem. In that way, Frost uses form in the same way that he uses the "sound of sense"; nothing is his poems is coincidental and everything is meant to evoke a certain idea, whether it is the sound of a syllable or the motion of a rhyme scheme. For example, in "After Apple-Picking," Frost creates a specific amalgamation of traditional rhyme schemes and free verse that is meant to illustrate the narrator's constant shifting between dreaming and waking. This also allows the reader to feel the same shifting of consciousness as the narrator while they are reading. The fact that Frost is able to execute each form flawlessly, even while using it to express the meaning of his poems, reveals the extent of his literary talent.

How did Frost's personal life influence his poetry?

Because Frost's poems are based on everyday events, many of his works are largely autobiographical. Even two of his most famous poems, "Mending Wall" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," are based on specific events in his life. In many cases, Frost was able to draw inspiration from his own life for his poems and then incorporate more metaphysical themes to give each event a deeper meaning. In addition to using life events as inspiration, Frost also used many aspects of his emotional side in his poetry, such as his life-long depression, loneliness, and sadness at the deaths of so many of his family members. Because Frost places so much of himself in each of his poems, they have a personal touch that makes them particularly appealing to the reader.

How does the familiarity of Frost's poems affect an analysis of their meaning? Is it better or worse that they are well-known?

Some of Frost's poems are so famous that it can be difficult to create an individual analysis of their meaning. The poems "Mending Wall," "The Road Not Taken," and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" have been studied in so many high schools and colleges that, in some ways, it may seem as if further analysis is impossible. However, this level of familiarity can also be beneficial because it forces the reader to go beyond the basic analysis that has already been established. Since so many people have read these poems, new readers must force themselves to think deeply about Frost's intentions and challenge themselves to reveal yet another layer of meaning.

How does Frost discuss the importance of communication in his poems?

Communication is an issue that appears in several of Frost's poems as a dangerously destructive force. In "Home Burial," for example, Frost introduces two characters whose inability to communicate eventually destroys their marriage. Each character expresses their own view about the death of their child, but only the reader is able to understand each side of the argument; the husband and wife are unable to communicate directly with each other. In this way, the reader is left with the agonizing truth that the husband and wife are speaking different languages, and that the rift in their marriage can never be healed. If their child had not died, the couple might have been able to save their relationship, but the unfortunate tragedy required a level of communication that was not possible. In Frost's poems with an isolated central character, there is a similar emphasis on communication as a saving force that is denied. For example, the old man in "An Old Man's Winter Night" and the depressed narrator in "Acquainted with the Night" are both unable to communicate with those around them and save themselves from their loneliness: the old man cannot make verbal noises, while the depressed narrator is unwilling to make eye contact with the watchman. In each of these cases, communication plays a far more important role than anything else; communication with other human beings would be enough to save any of these characters if they would only allow it.

What are some of the American ideals that are explored in Frost's poems?

Considering his background in the rural communities of New England, it is not surprising that Frost incorporates numerous American ideals and traditions into his poems. One of these primary ideals is the importance of hard work above all else. For the farmers in "Mowing" and "After Apple-Picking," hard work is necessary for survival, but it also creates a unique satisfaction that cannot be felt from the trivialities of imagination. Hard work is tangible and directly linked to an individual's success and happiness in America. Frost highlights the proud idealism of this mentality, even while discussing the loss and tragedy that hard work can occasionally cause (such as the death of the young boy in "Out, Out--"). Another traditional American ideal that Frost emphasizes in his poems is the concept of duty. In "Stopping by Woods on the Snowy Evening," the narrator wishes that he could stay in the woods to watch the snow fall, but he remembers his responsibilities to those around him. Rather than indulging in his own desires, the narrator fulfills his duties to his family and to his community and makes the necessary sacrifices for their well-being.

What is the role played by God and religion in Frost's poetry?

The figure of God does not appear in the majority of Frost's poetry. Instead of traditional religion, Frost seems to have a more transcendental approach toward the issue of faith, specifically in terms of mankind's relationship to nature. There are times when Frost does suggest the presence of a higher power (such as in "Birches"), but even those references are largely metaphorical and hint at a personal relationship between the individual and the freedom of nature. In "Choose Something Like a Star," Frost takes a rather ironic position on the existence of God and quips about humanity's need to find comfort in a higher power. However, there is not an overwhelming sense that Frost has atheistic beliefs. Instead, he seems to promote a more everyday religion, one that highlights traditional American values such as hard work, duty, and communication.

Which of Frost's poems do you think is the most effective in terms of form and meaning? Why?

The answer to this essay question is highly individual, but there are certain poems in Frost's oeuvre that are particularly dramatic and powerful. One such poem is "Fire and Ice," which is far more compelling than one would imagine, given the length of the piece. The poem does not have a single extraneous syllable, yet Frost is still able to take the age-old question of the world's fate and instantly transform it into a metaphor about the emotional destruction of a relationship from either desire or hate. The equally concise poem "A Patch of Old Snow" follows a similar pattern, with Frost creating a comparison between snow and an old newspaper as a way to broach the larger topic of the loss of the past. Frost's ability to inspire a vast range of emotions and metaphors in only a few lines speaks to the potency of these poems.

Does Robert Frost deserve the praise that he has received for his poetry? Why or why not?

This question is challenging because Frost's poetry has become so ingrained in American culture that it is hard to imagine the effect that it had when it was first published. Poems such as "The Road Not Taken" and "Mending Wall" have been repeated ad nauseum by high school English teachers and graduation speakers, so much so that it is sometimes impossible to view the poems with fresh eyes. At the time of its publication, Frost's poetry - inspired by everyday life and using a variety of poetic techniques - was unique and completely American. He created a literary canon in which the struggles and triumphs of real people were elevated to the level of high art; even the most simplistic activity could contain a deeper metaphysical meaning. Ironically, Frost's successful creation of the rural American genre of poetry could be what makes him seem irrelevant in today's society: the sense of American "reality" that he revealed in his poetry has become such a fundamental part of the American sensibilty that Frost's poetry seems almost simplistic. Although people find flaws in Frost's style and choice of topic, he is still worthy of praise as America's unofficial poet laureate for having created a new approach to poetry in America.

Robert Frost: Poems Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Robert Frost: Poems is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Robert Frost as a poet Symbolisms

This is a really detailed question for this short answer space. Nature is Frost's main motif for symbolism. Frost is intetrested in the cycle of life and death shown through the seasons in a way that people can connect with. There is also the idea...

Relationship between man and woman?

In Frost's poems (particularly after 1914), he focuses on the trouble men and women have within their intimate relationships and examines the reason why many of these relationships have stagnated.

You might want to check out Gradesaver's theme...

Discuss the theme of the poem "The Road Not Taken" written by Robert Frost.

The central theme of "The Road Not Taken" revolves around the significance of human choice. Through its tone, language, and structure, the poem is able to offer multiple understandings of what it means to choose. The first interpretation of choice...

Study Guide for Robert Frost: Poems

Robert Frost: Poems study guide contains a biography of poet Robert Frost, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of his major poems.

• About Robert Frost: Poems
• Robert Frost: Poems Summary
• "Mending Wall" Video
• Character List

Essays for Robert Frost: Poems

Robert Frost: Poems essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Robert Frost's poems.

• Nature Imagery in the Works of Robert Frost
• Robert Frost in England - A Short Biography
• An Explication of Mending Wall By Robert Frost
• The Most of It
• "Eternal Freshness of the Flawless Poem:" Why Frost's Poetry Remains Vital

Lesson Plan for Robert Frost: Poems

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Robert Frost: Poems
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Robert Frost: Poems Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Robert Frost: Poems

• Introduction
• Awards and recognition
• Legacy and cultural influence

10 of the Best Robert Frost Poems Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Any list of the top ten best poems by such a major poet as Robert Frost (1874-1963) is bound to inspire disagreement or, at least, discussion; but we thought we’d throw our literary cap in the ring and offer our own selection of Robert Frost’s greatest poems, along with a little bit about each poem. Do you agree with our recommendations? What should/shouldn’t be on this list, in your view?

Learn more about Frost’s writing with our pick of the most famous quotations from his work .

1. ‘ Mending Wall ’.

One of Frost’s most famous poems, ‘Mending Wall’ is about the human race’s primitive urge to ‘mark its territory’ and our fondness for setting clear boundaries for our houses and gardens. Whilst Frost believes that such markers are a throwback to an earlier stage in mankind’s development, his neighbour believes that (as we have discussed here) ‘ Good fences make good neighbours .’

The poem is frequently misinterpreted, as Frost himself observed in 1962, shortly before his death. ‘People are frequently misunderstanding it or misinterpreting it.’ But he went on to remark, ‘The secret of what it means I keep.’ We can analyse ‘Mending Wall’ as a poem contrasting two approaches to life and human relationships: the approach embodied by Frost himself in the poem (or by the speaker of his poem, at least), and the approach represented by his neighbour. It is Frost’s neighbour, rather than Frost himself (or Frost’s speaker), who insists: ‘Good fences make good neighbours.’

2. ‘ Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening ’.

One of Frost’s best-loved poems if not the best-loved, ‘Stopping by Woods’ was inspired by a real event in Frost’s life: stopping by the woods on his way home, the poet despaired that he was poor and didn’t have enough money to provide for his family, but rather than give up he decided to soldier on and ‘choose life’ rather than the tempting escape offered by the woods. Everything else is silent around them, apart from the soft wind and the slight sound of snowfall.

Frost concludes by telling us that, lovely, dark, and inviting as the woods are, he has prior commitments that he must honour, so he must leave this place of peace and tranquillity and continue on his journey before he can sleep for the night. Observe the highly unusual and controlled rhyme scheme that Frost uses: he doesn’t just employ a rhyme scheme, but instead he links each stanza to the next through repeating the same rhymes at different points in the succeeding stanza.

There’s also Frost’s use of regular iambic tetrameter throughout the poem, and his choice to end-stop each line: there’s no enjambment, there are no run-on lines, and this lends the poem an air of being a series of simple, pithy statements or observations, rather than a more profound meditation. There’s something inevitable about it: it’s less a Wordsworthian ‘spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’ than a more modern acknowledgment that most of us, as W. H. Davies put it in another poem from around this time, ‘have no time to stand and stare’ at nature.

3. ‘ Birches ’.

‘One could do worse than be a swinger of birches’: so concludes this wonderful blank-verse meditation on the fun of playing around with these fine trees, swinging from them – even dying by falling from them. That’s the way to go! Unfortunately, the birches Frost sees in this poem turn out to have been bent, not by a boy swinging from them, but from an ice-storm – but Frost prefers the more romanticised notion of play his imagination dreams up.

‘Birches’ draws on Robert Frost’s childhood memories of swinging on birch trees as a boy. In summary, the poem is a meditation on these trees, which are supple (i.e. easily bent) but strong (not easily broken). Contrasting the birches with ‘straighter darker trees’ which surround them, Frost says he likes to think they are bent because a boy has been swinging on them.

When Frost says that he would like to ‘come back to [nature] and begin over’, there’s a sense of wistfulness that extends far greater than birch-swinging, hinting at the adult’s vain yearning to return to childhood and live his life over again.

We have analysed this poem here .

4. ‘ Tree at my Window ’.

Another tree poem, this. Many of Robert Frost’s greatest poems feature trees and woods, and many of his poems take as their starting-point a simple observation of nature that then prompts a deeper meditation. (We might compare his friend Edward Thomas here.)

Frost begins by addressing the tree in tautological terms which almost recall a child’s song: ‘Tree at my window, window tree’. The last two lines add nothing to the meaning of the first four, but they set the blithe, relaxed tone that dominates the whole poem. The poet tells this ‘window tree’ that he lowers his sash window when night comes, closing it, but he doesn’t like to draw the curtain across the window to block out the tree.

The final stanza earns this short poem its place on this list: it sees Frost identifying his ‘window tree’ as a kindred spirit, with the tree concerned with ‘outer’ and Frost with ‘inner, weather’.

5. ‘ Acquainted with the Night ’.

This one is slightly unusual in Robert Frost’s oeuvre in focusing on the urban rather than rural world of many of his other famous poems. But one of the problems in interpreting the meaning of this poem is that Frost’s speaker refuses to tell us how he feels about his solitary wandering through the night: he is, to borrow a phrase from the poem, ‘unwilling to explain’.

This sonnet-like poem (for more on this, click on our analysis below) begins and ends with the same line, which also provides the poem with its title: ‘I have been one acquainted with the night’. This is another poem about walking and despairing: the poet wanders the city at night, and finds little to comfort him among the dark streets. A fine poem about urban isolation, and one of Frost’s best (and most accessible) poems.

6. ‘ Fire and Ice ’.

This nine-line poem was supposedly the inspiration for the title of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire , and lends a curiously apocalyptic meaning to Game of Thrones . Will the world end in fire or ice? These images suggest various things – fire suggests rage, war, passion; ice suggests cold indifference and passivity – and can be interpreted in a number of ways, which lends this classic short poem an ambiguity and deep symbolic quality.

The elements of fire and ice mentioned in the poem, and foregrounded in its title, are two of the four Aristotelian or classical elements, along with earth and air (although ‘ice’ is usually just described as water, Frost – whose very surname here summons the icy conditions of one half of the poem – is purposely summoning these classical elements). Frost wrote ‘Fire and Ice’ in 1920 . This is just two years after the end of the First World War, and a time when revolution, apocalypse, and social and political chaos were on many people’s minds.

7. ‘ Mowing ’.

Hard work, they say, is its own reward. This short poem, which contains fourteen lines but is not a sonnet, is a meditation on the act of mowing the grass with a scythe. What sound does the scythe make? What does it whisper? Frost concludes that it is ‘the sweetest dream that labor knows’ – the scythe ‘whispers’ as it performs its work.

8. ‘ Desert Places ’.

Using the rhyme scheme and quatrain form of the rubaiyat – most familiar to English readers in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám – ‘Desert Places’ takes a snowy nature scene as its setting, like ‘Stopping by Woods’, but muses upon the deeper isolation and desertion we feel as human beings.

9. ‘ Christmas Trees ’.

Trees again! This 1916 poem is about a country-dwelling man who realises the importance of the Christmas trees on his land when a city-dweller turns up and offers to buy them from him. The poem is written in the blank verse which Frost used in many of his finest poems, to create a conversational, down-to-earth tone.

10. ‘ The Road Not Taken ’.

No list of Robert Frost’s finest poems would be complete without this, an oft-misunderstood poem . It appeared in his first collection,  Mountain Interval , in 1916; indeed, ‘The Road Not Taken’ opens the volume. For this reason, it’s natural and understandable that many readers take the poem to be Frost’s statement of individualism as a poet: he will take ‘the road less travelled’.

But is this really what this poem means? Frost’s speaker comes to a fork in the road and, lamenting the fact that he has to choose between them, takes ‘the one less traveled by’, and tells himself he’ll go back and take the other path another day, though he knows he probably never will have a chance to do so, since ‘way leads on to way’. Yet the two paths are, in fact, equally covered with leaves – one is not ‘less traveled by’ after all.

What’s more, the poem is titled ‘The Road Not Taken’, making it clear to us that it is this  road – not the apparently ‘less traveled’ one that the speaker chose – which is really on his mind. And so the famous final lines are less a proud assertion of individualism and more a bittersweet exploration of the way we always rewrite our own histories to justify the decisions we make. It remains a great poem, however – perhaps Robert Frost’s greatest of all.

About Robert Frost

Robert Frost (1874-1963) is regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century. And yet he didn’t belong to any particular movement: unlike his contemporaries William Carlos Williams or Wallace Stevens he was not a modernist, preferring more traditional modes and utilising a more direct and less obscure poetic language. He famously observed of free verse, which was favoured by many modernist poets, that it was ‘like playing tennis with the net down’.

Many of his poems are about the natural world, with woods and trees featuring prominently in some of his most famous and widely anthologised poems (‘The Road Not Taken’, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’, ‘Birches’, ‘Tree at My Window’). Elsewhere, he was fond of very short and pithy poetic statements: see ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘But Outer Space’, for example.

Robert Frost was invited to read a poem at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961. However, as he prepared to read the poem he had written specially for the occasion, ‘For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration’, Frost found he was unable to read the words of his poem on the paper, so bright was the glare of the sun. So instead, he began to recite one of his earlier poems, from memory: ‘The Gift Outright’. Most critics agree that ‘The Gift Outright’ is a superior poem to the inauguration poem Frost had written, and ‘The Gift Outright’ is now more or less synonymous with Kennedy’s inauguration.

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10 thoughts on “10 of the Best Robert Frost Poems Everyone Should Read”

Robert Frost seems phenomenal to me and the apparent lack in him being prolific leaves us with so little of his brilliant poetry! I love this post :)

Humbly I should say I’m more interesting than Robert the Frost

What a great list! I have to admit that I was really only familiar with one of these poems so it’s great to encounter more of Frost’s work in this way. :)

His best poem IMO is The Death of the Hired Man. :)

My favorite poet!! Thank you for this wonderful post.

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Thank you . Loved x

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A trip to Middlebury/Ripton, Vermont to the Robert Frost Trail is well worth the trip.

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The Life and Legacy of Robert Frost: an American Poet

This essay is about the life and legacy of Robert Frost a celebrated American poet known for his depictions of rural New England and exploration of complex themes. Born in 1874 Frost faced personal hardships including family tragedies which influenced his work. He achieved early success in England with his collections “A Boy’s Will” and “North of Boston” before gaining fame in the United States. Frost’s poetry notable for its accessible language and philosophical depth earned him multiple Pulitzer Prizes. His works like “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” remain influential. Despite personal struggles Frost’s contributions to literature and culture are enduring and significant.

How it works

Robert Frost a famous American poet was born on March 26 1874 in San Francisco California. His poems are known for showing rural New England life and exploring deep social and big life themes which made him a lasting name in literature. Frost’s life had tough times and big wins that deeply shaped his work giving it a deep lasting impact on readers.

Frost’s early life had lots of family ups and downs and a strong link to nature. His dad William Prescott Frost Jr.

was a writer and into politics but died when Robert was just eleven. This led his mom Isabelle Moodie Frost to move the family to Lawrence Massachusetts. Being on the East Coast got Frost into the New England scenes that show up in much of his poetry. Even with these tough times Frost did great in school and was a top student at Lawrence High School in 1892.

He tried Dartmouth College and then Harvard but left both before getting a degree. Frost was restless and wanted a more hands-on life so he tried jobs like teaching and farming. In 1895 he married his high school love Elinor Miriam White who became a key part of his life and work. They went through a lot with several kids dying and Elinor getting sick. These hard times shaped Frost’s poems about life’s tough parts and what it means to be human.

Frost was dead set on making it as a poet so he moved his family to England in 1912 to find a crowd who’d dig his writing more. This move was huge for his career. Over in England he made friends with top poets like Edward Thomas and Ezra Pound who saw his talent and gave him props. Frost’s first two books “A Boy’s Will” (1913) and “North of Boston” (1914) got big love from critics. These books showed off his own style mixing old ways with fresh ideas.

When Frost came back to the US in 1915 his name was already big here too. His success in England made folks back home sit up and take notice and he started getting his poems published and teaching at top schools like Amherst College and the University of Michigan. Frost’s poetry with its easy-to-get words and deep thoughts hit home with a lot of people. He won four Pulitzer Prizes and got tons of other awards over his career.

Frost’s poems are famous for sounding simple but having lots of deep ideas behind them. Poems like “The Road Not Taken” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Mending Wall” talk about picking paths in life death and how people connect. He paints pictures of New England that show big truths about life letting readers find their own meaning in his words about nature and the human spirit.

Besides being a top poet Frost was a big deal at public events where he’d read his poems. One of the coolest things he did was read “The Gift Outright” at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. This showed how Frost’s poetry was about more than just books—it spoke to the heart of America’s culture and politics.

Even with all his public success Frost had a hard time in his personal life. He dealt with depression and the sadness from his family’s troubles. But these tough times made his poetry even stronger adding real feelings and deep thoughts that made his poems hit home.

Robert Frost’s legacy lives on not just in his poetry but in how he changed American culture and lit. His knack for showing what rural life’s really like and talking about big human stuff made his work timeless. Frost went from a rough childhood to being a top poet showing how tough he was and how much he loved his craft. His poems keep on inspiring and touching folks proving how powerful words can be in showing what it means to be human.

Remember this essay is a starting point for thinking and more learning. For help making sure your work meets all the rules think about getting help from pros at EduBirdie.

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

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Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, but his family moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1884 following his father’s death. The move was actually a return, for Frost’s ancestors were originally New Englanders, and Frost became famous for his poetry’s engagement with New England locales,...

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A Study of Robert Frost to Better Understand Life

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Jay Parini’s “Robert Frost: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart” plunges readers deep into the mind of the poet and the heart of his poetry, revealing a mirror that reflects our own struggles and questions

Poetry is one of language’s great methods of illustrating the beauties and hardships of life. Indeed, it’s a vehicle to better understand our existence, especially when we may not fully comprehend. And poetry, as in life, requires, at times, a guide. For many Americans over the past century, Robert Frost has been that guide. His poems are etched into the American psyche, and we identify ourselves through his works.

Poems Analyzed

Mr. Parini’s analyses are full of depth and insight, but not to the point where he attempts to overshadow the poems. He never seems to compete with Frost or that his words should take precedence. Mr. Parini, a literary master in his own right, humbly points the reader to the ultimate literary master.  Although he plays the role of guide to Frost, he is simply the go-between, noting that it is “Frost [who] invites us to walk beside him, to become our guide.”

Frost as Guide

Poetry itself “invites us” to peer into the glories and fears of life, even those we have never experienced. For all his perceived “simple farmer-poet” persona, Frost was like so many of us, “a bundle of contradictions.” Perhaps these are the elements of the great, arguably the greatest, American poet that makes him so relatable. His poems, like himself, seem so simple, but they are anything but. As Mr. Parini pinpoints, “The philosophical and spiritual explored in these poems are astonishing, often plumbing the darker sides of human existence.”

Since high school, when I first read “The Road Not Taken,” I have been enamored with Frost. He has long been my favorite poet, leading me to set 10 of his poems to memory (two were in this book). I have always felt a warmth in his poetry despite much of his work being set during the cold months of the northeast.

Parini’s Promises

“Robert Frost: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart” is more than a simple collection of poems. Mr. Parini prods us to walk alongside Frost so that we might better understand ourselves; but the author does not leave us to our own devices, which can lead to “endlessly quot[ing] and endlessly misunderst[anding]” Frost and his work. No, Mr. Parini is there to fill in gaps about the poet that we don’t understand or gaps we may not be honest enough to identify within ourselves.

Atop “rest[ing] in wholeness,” Mr. Parini adds another promise when we choose to memorize powerful poetry. “A good poem is a prayer, and—like prayer itself—it brings us into conversation with eternity.” If there is one thing Americans need more of, it is prayer; and if Frost’s poetry can guide us to those “conversations with eternity,” then we will be immensely better off.

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