American Poet:Robert Frost

Biography: Personal Life

• 1874-1963• Born in San Francisco• At eleven, moved to Massachusetts• Married at twenty• Studied at Harvard

Robert and Elinor Frost at Plymouth, New Hampshire, 1911

Image Credit: http://www.frostfriends.org/chronology.html

Biography: Work Life

• Number of jobs before farming• Farm was a failure• Only local newspapers accepted his writings

The Frost farm, where the family lived from 1900-1911.

Image Credit: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/exhibit.htm

Biography: Beginning as a poet

• Poems set in New England• Settings at farms or rural areas

Biography: Progressing as a poet

• Moved to New England• Offered collected works to publisher• A Boy’s Will – 1913• North of Boston -1914• Famous• Home in 1915

Frost's manuscript of a poem from A Boy's Will (1915)

Image Credit:http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/frost/english/images/willms1.jpg

Biography: Succeeding as a poet• One of most popular American poets• Pulitzer Prize – 1st in 1924• Read poem at JFK inauguration – 1961

Reciting “The Gift Outright” at John F Kennedy’s inauguration ceremony.

Image Credit: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2011/01/john-f-kennedys-inauguration-in-pictures.html

“The Secret Sits”

We dance round in a ring and suppose,

But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

An example of Robert Frost’s poetry…

Remember!Geometric Principle: • Circle (“ring”)• Equal distance from center (“middle”)• No one is nearer to “Secret”

Alliteration:• Use of similar consonants

Questions!

Question #1: Who are the “we” mentioned in line 1?

Answer #1: People in general.

Questions Continued:Question #2: Describe the personification in line 2.

Answer #2: The “Secret” is personified as sitting in the middle of a ring of dancers and knowing.

Questions Continued:

Question #3: How might the poem be a description of life?

Answer #3: People constantly seek to know the “meaning of it all,” but no one can get closer to this “Secret” than anyone else.

Citations:

Hogan, R. J., Miller, Jr., J. E., McDonnell, H. (1991). Traditions in literature: Teacher’s planbook. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Hogan, R. J., Miller, Jr., J. E., McDonnell, H. (1991). Traditions in literature: Teacher’s annotated edition. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company.