The name of Robert Frost is known to every American, because he is one of the most prominent American poets of the twentieth century. He was inspired by rural landscapes and the life of an ordinary person, which Robert Frost reflected in his poems. His talent has been recognized in many countries and has received numerous prestigious awards. Today you can find many followers of the work of the American poet.
Childhood and adolescence of Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California, USA. His parents were William Prescott Frost Jr. from Massachusetts, journalist, and Isabelle Moody Frost, immigrant from Scotland. My father had English roots. Robert's father was at first a teacher, and later, after an unsuccessful attempt to get a job as a tax inspector, he found a job in the editorial office of a newspaper. He was a rebel by nature and a Republican by political views, so he named his son after Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee. The boy had a younger sister named Jani.
In 1885, the boy's father drank himself to death and died of tuberculosis, and Isabelle and her two children had to move to Lawrence, closer to their parents.
Back in his early years, Robert Frost showed an interest in poetry. In high school, he published his work in a school magazine. In 1892, Robert Frost graduated from an educational institution and changed a number of jobs. First, he helped his mother, who got a job as a teacher, to teach disobedient students, then he handed out newspapers, then he worked in a factory. But soon Robert Frost realized that none of this suited him, and he wanted to devote himself to his favorite business - poetry.
Creativity and career of Robert Frost
Robert Frost published his first poem, My Butterfly, in 1894, selling it for $ 15 to a New York magazine. The young poet first traveled to Virginia, and then entered the Faculty of Humanities at Harvard University, where he studied for two years.
Despite the fact that Robert was a very capable student, he had to leave the prestigious institution in order to help his family.
Before his death, Frost's grandfather managed to buy a farm, which he gave to Robert and his wife. For a long nine years, Robert Frost worked on the farm, while simultaneously doing the writing craft. However, when his farming ceased to generate income, Robert returned to the university.
From 1906 to 1911 he worked as an English teacher, first at Pinkerton Academy and then at New Hampshire High School.
In 1912, Frost moved to the UK with his family, and a year later released his first collection of poems, A Boy's Will. In England, Robert Frost made several useful and important acquaintances, and joined the literary club. Surrounded by friends and support, Robert Frost published his works, which were welcomed by readers.
However, the First World War soon began, after which Robert had to return to America. There he took up farming again, combining it with writing, teaching and lecturing at various colleges and universities in the country. From 1921 to 1963, during the summer, Robert Frost devoted time to teaching students at Middlebury College. In addition to teaching, he took part in the development of educational school programs. Robert Frost did a lot to improve the quality of education, so even during the poet's life, a high school in Virginia and Massachusetts was named in his honor, as well as the main library of Amherst College, which contains more than 12 thousand exhibits: original manuscripts, letters of the poet, photographs, and also audio and video recordings from the life of the famous poet.
On January 20, 1961, at the age of 86, Robert Frost read his poem at the inauguration of US President John F. Kennedy. On this significant day for the poet, Frost planned to read also the prologue, but he could not read the text due to his weak eyesight and the blinding midday sun.
Robert Frost has received four Pulitzer Literary Achievements in Poetry Award.
The creative style of Robert Frost
Robert Frost's work has been featured in an anthology of contemporary American poetry. Literary critics have described the poet's poems as “filled with charming rural paintings, familiar to every reader. However, behind the magnificent associative images, there is a melancholic and pessimistic “aftertaste”.
Personal life of Robert Frost
In contrast to the successful career of the poet, Robert Frost's personal life was filled with sadness and loss. He lost his father in his youth. His own younger sister Jani fell ill with a mental disorder, and Robert Frost had to confine her to a mental hospital, where she died 9 years later.
In 1894, at the age of 20, Robert Frost married Eleanor Miriam White, a Pennsylvania teacher whom the poet met while teaching at school. The marriage could hardly be called happy because of the large difference in temperament between the spouses. The poet had six children: son Eliot, daughter Leslie Frost Ballantin, cheese Carol, daughters Irma, Marjorie and Eleanor Bettina (who died three days after birth in 1907). Eliot's son died of cholera at the age of four in 1900, followed by Robert Frost losing his mother and grandfather. Carol's son committed suicide, Marjorie died of postpartum fever.
In 1937, Robert Frost lost his wife. American poet Robert Frost died on January 23, 1963 in Boston as a result of complications from a surgery and was buried in the Vermont cemetery.
