Robert Frost

For my poet I chose to research Robert Frost (pg. 18). He's one of those poets that has always been read and taught in English classes, but he's still one of my favorites because his language is very down-to-earth. Another reason I chose him was because his poem "Out, out-" reminded me of certain feelings I had during a serious rock climbing accident I was in this past spring, and it made me think more about that incident in different ways, especially the line, "He saw all spoiled." I thought that demonstrated very well what we have been reading as poetry's function, to capture sensory feelings in words. The website I chose had a complete biography as well as links to many of his poems. Also, I have used it before for classes so I know that it is reliable, which is why I chose it.

He's one of the most famous American, pastoral poets and has received the Pulitzer Prize 4 times. After reading his biography, one can sense the presence of death throughout his life, starting with his father's death when he was 11. He also lost his wife in 1938 and 4 of his children, which caused him to be depressed later on in his life. These instances in his life had direct affect upon his poetry, as we saw in the poem "Out, Out-", which we read in class. Frost also uses a lot of nature imagery in his poems and, as I read in his biography online, correlates to his living on farms in New England. This use of nature images can be seen in one of his most famous poems, "The Road Not Taken."

Website:
http://www.online-literature.com/frost/

-Steph