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Books & Authors, History & Biography

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Robert Frost’s highly accessible poetry--filled with the everyday sights and sounds of rural New England and conveyed in a down-to-earth voice--won him many accolades and devoted readers in his lifetime and has made him a favorite in and out of the classroom ever since.

After his death, however, the poet’s image as a grandfatherly farmer-sage was upended by his unsympathetic hand-picked biographer, Lawrance Thompson, who painted Frost as a heartless egotist. This “monster myth” has persisted, despite occasional attempts by scholars to offer a more objective perspective.

With the recent publication of the first of four volumes of a new collection of Frost’s personal correspondence, the celebrated poet’s muddled reputation may finally be getting a humanizing facelift. Many of the included letters to family, friends, and colleagues have never before been seen by the public, and some (like those discovered in a desk donated to a New Hampshire thrift shop) are new even to devoted Frost scholars, who look forward to gaining a more complete, nuanced picture of the poet as a human being.

Frost consciously kept his personal life out of the public eye, so even modern readers might be surprised to learn a few things about the author of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”* and “Mending Wall.”*

For instance, did you know that Frost…

 

To learn more about the life, works, and legacy of this great American poet, check out these and other resources from The Library’s collection.

 

"Robert Lee Frost"* (biographical article)

 

"The Road Back: Frost's Letters Could Soften a Battered Image"* (article)

 

"Robert Frost" *(biographical article)

 

 

"Robert Frost: A Life" by Jay Parini (book)

 

 

  

"The Letters of Robert Frost, Volume 1: 1886-1920" edited by Donald Sheehy, Mark Richardson, and Robert Faggen (book)

 

 

 

 "The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged" edited by Edward Connery Lathem (book)

 

 

  

"The Collected Prose of Robert Frost" edited by Mark Richardson (book)

 

 

 

 


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