Reading the Classics #59: Robert Frost
This post is gonna be a bit different than usual. I haven’t really written about any poets yet (Except Poe, but I focused more on his stories), all the others have been either novelists, short story writers, or playwrights. With this post, I want to focus more on the author himself, rather than a certain writing or writings. So, let’s begin with a bit of info about the life of Robert Frost. Born in 1874 in San Francisco, his father’s side of the family could trace its roots all the way back to colonial America. His father died when Frost was only 10, he and his family then moved across the country to Massachusetts. He attended Dartmouth College for a small time, and then began working to support himself. After he sold his first poem, he proposed to and married Elinor White. Frost spent a few years in Great Britain, increasing his fame as a poet and publishing more books, but moved back to America due to WWI starting up. For decades to come, Frost was renowned worldwide as one of the greatest poets of all time, and perhaps the greatest American poet. In 1961 he read a poem of his at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and died two years later at the age of 88. His tombstone read, “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world”. Food for thought.
Now, I haven’t read very much of Frost, but one doesn’t need to read much to appreciate his genius. Take for example, “The Road Not Taken”. At first glance, it’s a simple poem, not much. Just a traveler trying to decide where he wants to go. Now, try thinking about it at a different level. Perhaps this is no ordinary traveler, but Frost himself. He grew up in a somewhat normal family, and the idea of fame was just a dream. Years later, he found himself having achieved that dream, but what next? He had no idea where to go next. One way would take his life in a new direction, while the other path would change something else. And whatever he chose, he would never be able to go back. I see this poem as Frost looking back on the decisions in his life, and wondering what could have been. At least, that’s how I see it.
This is just one of Frost’s many poems. In his other collections, he explores many themes. The comfort of family, life in the country, the beauty of America, and so on. It’s little wonder that he was so appreciated by Americans. His ability to put feeling and energy into a writing is rather remarkable. I would love to be an author myself someday, but I think I lack the emotion for poetry. I’ve tried poetry before, but I’ve thrown it away each time because it’s so cold. Oh well, you’ll just never see a book or poetry under my name.
I hope you enjoyed this post. I’m not really used to writing about poets, but hopefully I get better at it as I do more. I still need to write about people like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Propertius, Anna Akhmatova, Edmund Spenser, and others. If there’s an author you want me to write about soon, let me know in the comments, and I’ll try to get to it. In the timeline below, I’m just gonna add “The Road Not Taken”. As always, thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
1849- The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott
Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
1851- Moby-Dick by Herman Meville
1855- Israel Potter by Herman Melville
1856- The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville
1868- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
1870- An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
1871- Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
1878- Daisy Miller by Henry James
1880- Washington Square by Henry James
1881-The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
1886- Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott
The Bostonians by Henry James
1888- The Aspern Papers by Henry James
1898- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
1903- The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James
1908- The Jolly Corner by Henry James
1916- The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
1920- Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1922- Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
1924- Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville
1925- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1926- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
1927- Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
1929- The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft
1930- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
1935- It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
1936- Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
1940- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
1941- The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft
1944- The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
1947- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
1950- Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
1952- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1955- A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
1957- The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
1960- The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O’Connor
