Robert Frost
1874–1963
Robert Frost (1874–1963) was an American poet born in San Francisco and closely associated with rural New England, where he farmed in New Hampshire and later lived in Vermont. His first books, A Boy’s Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), were published in England before he became famous at home.
Frost wrote in traditional metres and plain speech about country life, using it to examine choice, isolation and doubt. He won four Pulitzer Prizes and read at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. “The Road Not Taken”, “Mending Wall”, “Birches” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” are among the best-known American poems.
Best-known poems
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The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood … -
Mending Wall
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; … -
Birches
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them. … -
After Apple-Picking
My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill … -
Mowing
There was never a sound beside the wood but one,
And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.
What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself; …
All poems (11)
- A Time to TalkWhen a friend calls to me from the road
- After Apple-PickingMy long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
- BirchesWhen I see birches bend to left and right
- Going for WaterThe well was dry beside the door,
- Mending WallSomething there is that doesn’t love a wall,
- MowingThere was never a sound beside the wood but one,
- My November GuestMy sorrow, when she’s here with me,
- ReluctanceOut through the fields and the woods
- Storm FearWhen the wind works against us in the dark,
- The Code-HeroicsThere were three in the meadow by the brook,
- The Road Not TakenTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood,
