Robert Frost

1. Robert Frost Poetry Study By: Jennifer Dempsey Adv. English 11

2. Biography • His full name is Robert Lee Frost • He was born in San Francisco, California, USA on March 26th, 1874 • His father was William Prescott Frost, Jr. and his mother was Isabelle Moodie • His dad died when he was 11 from tuberculosis • He attended high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts – this is when he began writing poetry • He went to Dartmouth College for a year but later quit to find work • He married Elinor White in 1895 • They had 6 children • His first poem sold for $15 (My Butterfly: An Elegy) • He attended Harvard University for 2 years (1897-1899) -- he left before receiving a degree • He lived on poultry farm • He taught at a small private school • He moved to England in 1912 • He moved back to the USA in 1915 • He taught literature at Amherst and Dartmouth Colleges as well as at Michigan and Harvard Universities • Robert Frost became the first poet to read a poem at a presidential inauguration (JFK’s) • Robert Frost died January 29th, 1963

3. Birches When I see birches bend to left and rightAcross the lines of straighter darker trees,I like to think some boy's been swinging them.But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen themLoaded with ice a sunny winter morningAfter a rain. They click upon themselvesAs the breeze rises, and turn many-colouredAs the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shellsShattering and avalanching on the snow-crustSuch heaps of broken glass to sweep awayYou'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,And they seem not to break; though once they are bowedSo low for long, they never right themselves:You may see their trunks arching in the woodsYears afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground,Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hairBefore them over their heads to dry in the sun.But I was going to say when Truth broke inWith all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm,I should prefer to have some boy bend themAs he went out and in to fetch the cows--Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,Whose only play was what he found himself,Summer or winter, and could play alone.One by one he subdued his father's treesBy riding them down over and over againUntil he took the stiffness out of them,And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there wasTo learn about not launching out too soonAnd so not carrying the tree awayClear to the ground. He always kept his poiseTo the top branches, climbing carefullyWith the same pains you use to fill a cupUp to the brim, and even above the brim.Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.So was I once myself a swinger of birches.And so I dream of going back to be.It's when I'm weary of considerations,And life is too much like a pathless woodWhere your face burns and tickles with the cobwebsBroken across it, and one eye is weeping>From a twig's having lashed across it open.I'd like to get away from earth awhileAnd then come back to it and begin over.May no fate wilfully misunderstand meAnd half grant what I wish and snatch me awayNot to return. Earth's the right place for love:I don't know where it's likely to go better.I'd like to go by climbing a birch treeAnd climb black branches up a snow-white trunkToward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,But dipped its top and set me down again.That would be good both going and coming back.One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

4. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbour know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-door game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours." Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: "Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him, But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather He said it for himself. I see him there Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours." Mending Wall

5. My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still. And there's a barrel that I didn't fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn't pick upon some bough. But I am done with apple-picking now. Essence of winter sleep is on the night, The scent of apples; I am drowsing off. I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight I got from looking through a pane of glass I skimmed this morning from the water-trough, And held against the world of hoary grass. It melted, and I let it fall and break. But I was well Upon my way to sleep before it fell, And I could tell What form my dreaming was about to take. apples coming in. For I have had too much Of apple-picking; I am overtired Of the great harvest I myself desired. There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch, Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall, For all That struck the earth, No matter if not bruised, or spiked with stubble, Went surely to the cider-apple heap As of no worth. One can see what will trouble This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is. Were he not gone, The woodchuck could say whether it's like his Long sleep, as I describe its coming on, Or just some human sleep. After Apple-Picking

6. Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day I paused and said, 'I will turn back from here. No, I will go on farther- and we shall see'. The hard snow held me, save where now and then One foot went through. The view was all in lines Straight up and down of tail slim trees Too much alike to mark or name a place by So as to say for certain I was here Or somewhere else: I was just far from home. A small bird flew before me. He was careful To put a tree between us when he lighted, And say no word to tell me who he was Who was so foolish as to think what he thought. He thought that I was after him for a feather- The white one in his tail; like one who takes Everything said as personal to himself. One flight out sideways would have undeceived him. And then there was a pile of wood for which I forgot him and let his little fear Carry him off the way I might have gone, Without so much as wishing him good-night. He went behind it to make his last stand. It was a cord of maple, cut and split And piled- and measured, four by four by eight. And not another like it could I see. No runner tracks in this year's snow looped near it. And it was older sure than this year's cutting, Or even last year's or the year's before. The wood was gray and the bark warping off it And the pile somewhat sunken. Clematis Had wound strings round and round it like a bundle. What held it though on one side was a tree Still growing, and on one a stake and prop, These latter about to fall. I thought that only Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks Could so forget his handiwork on which He spent himself the labour of his axe, And leave it there far from a useful fireplace · To warm the frozen swamp as best it could With the slow smokeless burning of decay. The Wood-Pile

7. My Literary Response on Frost’s Poetry I believe Robert Frost is an amazing poet. I like the way his poems seem easy to understand at first glance but on closer inspection seem to hold a greater depth of meaning. I enjoy picturing what is happening in his poems in my head and that it makes me feel as if I’m in the poem standing off in the background watching everything unfold. I find it challenging how Robert Frost is able to write down all his earthy imagery and than make a link between nature and the thoughts of an individual. I also find it challenging how Frost is able to integrate personification, metaphors and other literary techniques smoothly and precisely into his poetry. Reading his poetry helps me realize how beautiful and amazing it is just to look outside and take a closer look at the trees, sky, animals etc. that surround us all. We seem to get caught up in all the technology that’s around us that we ignore all that Mother Nature has created for us. Reading Robert Frost’s poetry brings me back to earth!! Some people think that Robert Frost has a strange brand of writing which involves some irony and “behind the scene add ins” such as clips of the Cold War era. Well, I haven’t read all of his poetry and so far I have found some irony but nothing about the Cold War. Even if he does or doesn’t have these events in his poem, I don’t think it should make difference on how great or less a poem is or how great or less the poet is. Other people think that Robert Frost has an amazing gift of connecting nature with feelings, such as love and sadness or curiosity. I have to agree with them also. I think it makes poetry more meaningful when you can connect it to something everyone can relate to just like Robert Frost does in his poetry.

8. My Poem Look at the autumn leaves Red, yellow, orange and green Hanging on the tree limbs The background is so dim Little squirrels are at play Among the colours today It makes me think a lot Who painted the scene with thought That makes me smile awhile The shades they run a mile Through the small country side I dream and fanaticize Of the trees and the leaves They must be so pleased How unique and different Each and everyone are Until their death arrives Falling downward, alive To the ground where they land Gathered gently by hand A child piles high And then jumps and then lies In those pretty coloured leaves Red, yellow, orange and green

9. Explanation about My Poem My poem imitates Robert Frost’s poetry by using simple earthy imagery and some literary techniques such as personification and metaphors. Each line is almost the same length just like Robert Frost’s poems and it is an actual event that took place in my life. It is easy for anyone to understand it and for anyone to relate to it. I believe my poem paints a clear picture in peoples heads when they read it, as if they were standing within the scene itself. I also believe that my poem can help people take a closer look at natures beauty and help them enjoy it and absorb it just like Frost’s poetry did for me and others.

10. Reference List • Wikipedia.(2005). Robert Frost. Retrieved December 11th, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost • PoemHunter.com.(2005). Poet: Robert Frost. Retrieved December 11th, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.poemhunter.com/robert-frost/poet-6604/ • The Internet Public Library.(2002). Robert Frost (1874-1963). Retrieved December 11th, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=fro-70 • Nelson T. and Brunner E.(1997). Robert Frost (1874-1963). Retrieved December 11th, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/frost.htm • [No Author Name]. (2005). Non Fiction. In Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005. CD-Rom