Robert Frost
(1874–1963)
Although he was born in the West (San Francisco) and named after a Southerner (Robert E. Lee), Robert Frost has become known as a New England poet. After his father died, his mother brought the family to Lawrence, Massachusetts. There Frost wrote poems while working as a mill hand, a schoolteacher, a baseball coach, a newspaper reporter, and a shoemaker.
From 1900 to 1912, while raising chickens on a small farm in Derry, New Hampshire, Frost wrote some of his best-known poems. However, magazine editors rejected them. He had no greater success at farming. In 1912 Frost decided to end his isolation and frustration. He sold the farm and sailed for England with his wife and four children. There he made friends with other struggling poets who were interested in his work. He put together two major collections, A Boy’s Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914). These books brought Frost to the attention of influential critics, including Ezra Pound, who helped Frost build a reputation in America.
By the time he returned to this country in 1915, Frost was already a famous poet. He settled once again on a farm, this time on a hill near Franconia, New Hampshire. For the rest of his life, he was America’s unofficial poet laureate. He received many honors, including four Pulitzer Prizes. In 1961 he was asked to participate in the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. At the ceremony, he recited one of his poems, "The Gift Outright."
