22 Feb 21 Guest Poet: Robert Frost

Robert Frost – Recalled in Winter

I know that winter death has never tried the earth but it has failed . . . 

Robert Frost (1874-1963), U.S. poet. The Onset (l. 13-14). . . 

The Poetry of Robert Frost. Edward Connery Lathem, ed. (1979) Henry Holt.

A poem ... begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.... It finds the thought and the thought finds the words.

Robert Frost (1874-1963), U.S. poet. letter, Jan. 1, 1916, to poet and anthologist Louis Untermeyer. 

The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer (1963).

We’ve just come through a patch of real Minnesota winter, here in the far northwestern corner of the state. Temperatures tumbled to minus 48 at Norris Camp in the approximate middle of Beltrami Island State Forest where we live. Outside the log cabin where we live, the air was a balmy minus 34. All this with out windchill added. Winter – it’s who we Minnesotans are. The morning I wrote this post it was minus 15 at about 7:00 a.m., and rising, but still below zero at 10 a.m.

I’m not complaining. We had a few flurries, but no blizzard. The wind stayed mild at 5-8 mph. Almost all of us have the proper gear for getting outside to walk the dogs, go ice fishing, and perhaps even ferret out a game of pond hockey. All in all, this “patch” of winter weather could have been much worse. So, let’s not complain. As I began today’s post, Robert Frost immediately came to mind, and one of his poems not far behind – “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” This poem is one of my all-time favorites – me and a b-zillion other poetry lovers. I’ve also included another winter poem by Frost which is not so well known. We’ll start with Frost’s shorter poem.

Every once in a while, it’s a good thing to remember a poet so well known that we forget to read parts of his opus. So, today, let’s take a few minutes to remember Robert Frost by reading or re-reading this well-known poem. Put yourself in a deep winter mood by taking a walk yourself and stop by and appreciate a “woods on a snowy evening.

A Patch of Old Snow

There's a patch of old snow in a corner
That I should have guessed
Was a blow-away paper the rain
Had brought to rest.

It is speckled with grime as if
Small print overspread it,
The news of a day I've forgotten --
If I ever read it.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Background

Robert Lee Frost is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

Frost was 86 when he spoke and performed a reading of his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961. Some two years later, on January 29, 1963, he died, in Boston. He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. His epitaph reads, "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

Exploration 1: What is one possible interpretation of “Patch of Old Snow” – yours or Frost’s?

Exploration 2: Where is Frost going, if anywhere, in “Snowy Evening?”

Exploration 3: Is “Snowy Evening” a philosophical poem? If so, what is Frost saying? If not, what kind of poem is it?

Exploration 4: What do you think was Frost’s “lover’s quarrel with the world”?