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This collection of specially commissioned essays by experts in the field explores
key dimensions of Robert Frost’s poetry and life. Frost remains one of the most
memorable and beguiling of modern poets. Writing in the tradition of Virgil,
Milton, and Wordsworth, he transformed pastoral and georgic poetry both in
subject matter and form. Mastering the rhythms of ordinary speech, Frost made
country life the point from which to view the world and the complexities of
human psychology. The essays in this volume enable readers to explore Frost’s
art and thought, from the controversies of his biography to his subtle reinvention of poetic and metric traditions, and the conflicts in his thought about politics, gender, science, and religion. This volume will bring fresh perspectives to
the lyric, narrative, and dramatic poetry of an American master, and its chronology and guide to further reading will prove valuable to scholars and students
alike.
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THE CAMBRIDGE
C O M PA N I O N T O
R O B E RT F R O S T
EDITED BY
R O B E RT FA G G E N
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cambridge university press
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Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521632485
© Cambridge University Press 2001
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2001
Fourth printing 2009
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost / edited by Robert Faggen.
p. cm. – (Cambridge companions to literature)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0 521 63248 x (hardback) – isbn 0 521 63494 6 (paperback)
1. Frost, Robert, 1874–1963 – Criticism and interpretation. 2. Frost, Robert,
1874–1963 – Handbooks, manuals, etc. i. Faggen, Robert. ii. Series.
ps3511.r94 z559 2001 811´.52–dc21 00-052917
isbn 978-0-521-63248-5 Hardback
isbn 978-0-521-63494-6 Paperback
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CONTENTS
List of contributors
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Note on the texts
List of the poems cited
page ix
x
xi
xvii
xviii
Introduction
ro b e rt fag g e n
1
1
“Stay Unassuming”: the Lives of Robert Frost
donald g. sheehy
7
2
Frost Biography and A Witness Tree
william pritchard
35
3
Frost and the Questions of Pastoral
ro b e rt fag g e n
49
4
Frost and the Ancient Muses
h e l e n bac o n
75
5
Frost as a New England Poet
l aw r e n c e b u e l l
101
6
“Across Spaces of the Footed Line”: the Meter and Versification of
Robert Frost
timothy steele
7
Frost’s Poetry of Metaphor
judith oster
123
155
vii
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contents
8
Frost and the Meditative Lyric
b l a n f o r d pa r k e r
179
9
Frost’s Poetics of Control
mark richardson
197
10 Frost’s Politics and the Cold War
g e o r g e m o n t e i ro
221
11. “Synonymous with Kept”: Frost and Economics
g u y ro t e l l a
241
12. Human Presence in Frost’s Universe
jo h n c u n n i n g h a m
261
Select bibliography
Index
273
276
viii
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CONTRIBUTORS
Helen Bacon, Barnard College, emerita
Lawrence Buell, Harvard University
John Cunningham, Hollins University
Robert Faggen, Claremont McKenna College
George Monteiro, Brown University
Judith Oster, Case Western Reserve University
Blanford Parker, City University of New York
William Pritchard, Amherst College
Mark Richardson, Eastern Michigan State University
Guy Rotella, Northeastern University
Donald G. Sheehy, Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania
Timothy Steele, California State University, Los Angeles
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost represents the work and devotion of the contributors as well as the support and suggestions of other Frost
scholars, especially Jonathan Barron, Lesley Lee Francis, Frank Lentricchia,
and Lisa Seale.
In preparing the manuscript, Linda Tuthill, Adrienne Lilley, Karen
Aguilar-Alorro, Jason Stiffler, and Connie Bartling of Claremont McKenna
College provided invaluable assistance. The encouragement of Ray Ryan of
Cambridge University Press and the keen attention of Sue Dickinson in the
editing of the manuscript have been essential.
Selections from Complete Poems of Robert Frost 1949, are Copyright ©
1923, 1928, 1930, 1934, 1939, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1949, © 1967 by Henry
Holt and Co., Copyright © 1936, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1951,
1956, 1958, 1962 by Robert Frost and Copyright © 1964, 1967 by Lesley
Frost Ballantine; and from In the Clearing, are Copyright © 1942, 1948,
1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962 by Robert
Frost and Copyright © 1970 by Lesley Frost Ballantine. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company.
Excerpts from the Selected Letters of Robert Frost edited by Lawrance
Thompson are Copyright © 1964 by Lawrance Thompson and Henry Holt
and Co. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company.
Selections from The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer edited by
Louis Untermeyer are Copyright © 1963 by Louis Untermeyer, Copyright ©
1991 by Laurence S. Untermeyer. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt
and Company.
Selections from Interviews with Robert Frost edited by Edward Connery
Lathem are Copyright © 1966 by Henry Holt. Reprinted by permission of
Henry Holt and Company.
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CHRONOLOGY
1874
1875
1876
1885
1886
1889
1890
1892
Born on March 26 in San Francisco, California to Isabelle Moodie
and William Prescott Frost Jr. Named Robert Lee Frost after
Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Originally from New
Hampshire, his father had, as a teenager, run away to join the confederate army before being caught in Pennsylvania and sent home. A
Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard, he married the Scottish born
Isabelle, who was brought up by her uncle in Ohio.
Father named city editor of the San Francisco Daily Evening Post,
edited by social reformer Henry George.
Sister, Jeanie Florence, is born on June 25 in grandparents’ home in
Lawrence, Massachusetts. Returns to San Francisco in late
November with mother and sister. Father, already beset by drinking
and gambling problems, is diagnosed with consumption.
Father dies of tuberculosis on May 5, leaving family only $8 after
funeral expenses. Father’s body taken to Lawrence, Massachusetts
for burial. Family lives with paternal grandfather, now retired from
job as a mill supervisor, and grandmother, a former leader of local
suffragist movement. Family goes to Amherst, New Hampshire and
stays at farm of great-aunt Sarah Frost. Family returns to Lawrence
and Frost is placed in third grade.
Family moves to Salem Depot, New Hampshire. Mother begins
teaching fifth to eighth grades in the district school.
Finishes school year at the head of the class of Lawrence High
School. Befriends Carl Burell, an older student, who introduces him
to botany, astronomy, and evolutionary theory.
Publishes first poem, “La Noche Triste,” based on episode in
Prescott’s History of the Conquest of Mexico, which appears in the
Lawrence High School Bulletin in April.
Shares valedictory honors at graduation with Elinor White, and
delivers address “A Monument to After-Thought Unveiled.”
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c h ro n o l o g y
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1905
1906
1907
1909
Becomes engaged to Elinor. Enters Dartmouth College instead of
Harvard because his grandparents blame Harvard for his father’s
bad habits and because it is less expensive. Leaves Dartmouth college
at the end of December.
Works at the Arlington Woolen Mill in Lawrence, changing carbon
filaments in ceiling arc lamps. Lives with mother and sister in
Lawrence.
Quits job at the mill and begins teaching grades one through six in
Salem. Tries unsuccessfully to convince Elinor to marry him. “My
Butterfly: An Elegy” published in The Independent and begins correspondence with its literary editor Susan Hayes Ward.
Marries Elinor White in Lawrence on December 19 in ceremony conducted by a Swedenborgian pastor. Works as a reporter for Lawrence
Daily American and Sentinal.
Son Elliot is born on September 25. Helps mother with a new school.
Passes Harvard College entrance examinations in Greek, Latin,
ancient history, English, French, and physical science. Enters
Harvard as a freshman and moves into Cambridge apartment with
Elinor, Elliott, and his mother-in-law.
Concerned with his own, Elinor’s, and mother’s health, he withdraws from Harvard on March 31. Daughter Lesley is born on April
28. Takes up poultry farming with financial help from his grandfather.
Elliott dies of cholera on July 8 and is buried in Lawrence. Frost
moves family to 30-acre farm in Derry, New Hampshire. Mother
dies of cancer on November 2 and is buried in Lawrence.
Grandfather William Prescott Frost dies on July 10; wills Frost a
$500 annuity and use of the Derry farm for ten years, after which
Frost is to be given ownership of the farm.
Expands poultry business. Son Carol is born on May 27.
Publishes short story “Trap Nests” in The Eastern Poultryman (first
of 11 stories and articles published in the Poultryman and FarmPoultry, 1903–05). Daughter Irma is born on June 27.
Daughter Marjorie is born on March 28.
Begins full time position teaching English at Pinkerton Academy in
Derry. Publishes poem “The Tuft of Flowers” in Derry Enterprise in
March.
Daughter Elinor Bettina is born on June 18 and dies on June 21,
1907.
Publishes poem “Into My Own” in New England Magazine in May.
Moves family from the farm to apartment in Derry Village.
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c h ro n o l o g y
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1917
1918
1920
1921
1923
Accepts teaching position at State Normal School in Plymouth, and
teaches courses in education and psychology. Sells the Derry farm in
November.
Family moves to England for a few years; Frost devotes himself to
writing full time. Rents cottage in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire,
20 miles north of London. Prepares manuscript of A Boy’s Will
and submits it to London publishing firm of David Nutt and
Company.
A Boy’s Will is published on April 1 and receives several favorable
reviews including Ezra Pound’s in Poetry. Through Pound, meets
Hilda Doolittle (“H. D.”), Ford Hermann Hueffer (Ford Maddox
Ford), May Sinclair, Ernest Rhys, and William Butler Yeats. Attends
weekly gatherings at homes of T. E. Hulme and Yeats. Forms close
mentoring friendship with essayist Edward Thomas.
Moves family to Dymock, Gloucestershire. North of Boston published on May 15 by David Nutt and Company to many favorable
reviews. Learns that New York publishing firm of Henry Holt and
Company will publish his books in the United States. Decides to
return to the United States.
North of Boston published by Henry Holt on February 20. Frost
arrives in New York on February 23. A Boy’s Will is published by
Henry Holt in April. Moves to Franconia, New Hampshire in June.
Meets poet Edwin Arlington Robinson and poet and anthologist
Louis Untermeyer, who becomes a lifelong friend. Elinor becomes ill
during pregnancy and recovers after miscarriage.
Family moves to Amherst, Massachusetts in January. Edward
Thomas killed by artillery shell in France on April 9 at the battle of
Arras. Accepts offer to extend teaching appointment at Amherst.
Awarded honorary MA degree by Amherst College in May.
Reappointed professor of English.
Resigns position at Amherst College in February in dispute with
President Meiklejohn over teaching philosophy and to devote more
time to writing poetry. Sister Jeanie arrested in Portland, Maine for disturbing the peace; Frost commits her to the state mental hospital. Sells
property in Franconia and buys farm in South Shaftsbury, Vermont.
Begins serving as consulting editor for Henry Holt and Company.
Accepts a one-year fellowship in letters at the University of
Michigan.
Selected Poems is published on March 15. New Hampshire published by Henry Holt on November 15. Accepts new appointment at
Amherst College.
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c h ro n o l o g y
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1934
1936
1937
1938
1940
1941
1942
1943
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for New Hampshire. Receives honorary
degrees from Middlebury College and Yale University. Accepts lifetime appointment at University of Michigan as Fellow in Letters.
Leaves Michigan in December when daughter Marjorie is hospitalized with pneumonia and a peri-cardiac infection.
Accepts offer to return to Amherst as part-time professor of English.
Participates in inaugural session of the Bread Loaf Writers’
Conference in Vermont.
Moves to Amherst. Marjorie enters Johns Hopkins Hospital for ten
weeks of treatment.
Visits Ireland and England, visiting Padraic Colum, George Russell
(“AE”), and Yeats. Meets T. S. Eliot for the first time, in London.
West-Running Brook is published November 19 by Holt along with
an expanded edition of Selected Poems.
Sister Jeanie dies in state mental hospital in Augusta, Maine, on
September 7. Frost and Elinor move into 150–acre “Gully Farm” in
South Shaftsbury, Vermont.
Collected Poems published by Holt. Elected to the American
Academy of Arts and Letters.
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Collected Poems.
Marjorie dies after intensive treatment for fever at the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota. Frost and Elinor go to Key West, Florida
under doctor’s orders where they are joined by Carol and his family.
A Further Range is published by Holt on May 20.
Wins Pulitzer Prize for A Further Range. Elinor undergoes surgery
for breast cancer in October. Spends winter with Elinor in
Gainesville, Florida.
Elinor dies of heart failure in Gainesville on March 20. Frost resigns
Amherst position and returns to South Shaftsbury. Kathleen
Morrison becomes his secretary and arranges lecture appearances.
Moves to Boston in October.
Carol commits suicide with a deer-hunting rifle on October 9 in
South Shaftsbury.
Moves to new home at 35 Brewster Street in Cambridge, spending
summers at the Homer Noble Farm and winters in South Miami.
Accepts fellowship from Harvard in American Civilization.
A Witness Tree is published by Holt on April 23.
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for A Witness Tree, becoming the first person
to receive the prize four times. Appointed George Ticknor Fellow in
the Humanities at Dartmouth College.
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c h ro n o l o g y
1944
1945
1946
1947
1949
1950
1953
1954
1957
1959
1960
1961
Daughter Irma afflicted by mental instability separates from
husband John Crone.
A Masque of Reason is published by Holt in March. Works on A
Masque of Mercy during the summer. Returns to Dartmouth as
Ticknor Fellow.
Irma and her six-year-old son Harold stay with Frost during the
summer as her mental condition deteriorates. Modern Library publishes Collected Poems with preface “The Constant Symbol.”
T. S. Eliot visits Frost in Cambridge. Steeple Bush is published by
Holt on May 28. Frost has Irma committed to the state mental hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, in August. A Masque of Mercy is
published by Holt in November.
Complete Poems of Robert Frost 1949, published by Holt on May 30.
US Senate adopts resolution honoring Frost on his seventy-fifth
birthday (actually his seventy-sixth). Attends conference held in his
honor at Kenyon college.
Awarded the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets.
Attends series of eightieth birthday celebrations including one at the
Waldorf-Astoria in New York sponsored by Holt. Travels with
Lesley to Brazil as delegate to the World Congress of Writers held in
São Paulo in August.
Frost, T. S. Eliot, Archibald MacLeish, and Ernest Hemingway sign
letter, asking Attorney General Herbert Brownell to drop treason
indictment against Ezra Pound. Awarded honorary doctorates by
Oxford and Cambridge. Revisits Gloucestershire and Beaconsfield.
Returns to US and becomes actively involved in effort to free Ezra
Pound.
Attends dinner at Waldorf-Astoria in honor of his eighty-fifth birthday. Lionel Trilling’s speech creates controversy reported in The New
York Times.
Congress passes bill awarding Frost a gold medal in recognition of
his work. Testifies before Senate subcommittee in favor of a bill to
establish a National Academy of Culture. President-elect Kennedy
invites him to take part in inaugural ceremonies.
Writes new poem in heroic couplets for inauguration on January 20.
Apparently unable to read it because of glare and recites, instead,
“The Gift Outright.” Travels to Israel and Greece under auspices of
the State Department and lectures at Hebrew University in
Jerusalem. Delivers three lectures in Athens. Vermont state legislature names Frost “Poet Laureate of Vermont.”
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c h ro n o l o g y
1962
1963
In the Clearing published March 26 by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston,
on his birthday, March 26. At invitation of President Kennedy,
travels in late August to the Soviet Union as part of a cultural
exchange program sponsored by the State Department. Travels to
Gagra on the Black Sea and meets with Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev. Returns to United States and creates controversy when
he tells press that Khrushchev “said we were too liberal to fight.”
Undergoes prostate operation on December 10. Suffers pulmonary
embolism on December 23.
Awarded the Bollingen Prize for Poetry on January 3. Suffers another
pulmonary embolism on January 7. Dies shortly after midnight on
January 29. Private memorial service is held in the Appleton Chapel
in Harvard Yard, January 31, and public service is held at Johnson
Chapel, Amherst College, on February 17. Ashes are buried in the
Frost family plot in Bennington, Vermont on June 16.
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N O T E O N T H E T E X T A N D L I S T O F A B B R E V I AT I O N S
Texts of all Frost poems are from Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Prose,
and Plays, edited by Richard Poirier and Mark Richardson, Library of
America, 1995. Most of the references to Frost’s essays and letters are from
the selections in this edition.
CPPP
SL
I
Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays, edited by Richard Poirier and
Mark Richardson. New York: Library of America, 1995.
Selected Letters of Robert Frost, edited by Lawrance Thompson.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964.
Interviews with Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966.
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POEMS CITED
Note: dates cited in the text refer to first collections where poems appeared
if different from dates cited below
Date first Collected Poems,
published Prose, and Plays
A Considerable Speck
A Correction
A Drumlin Woodchuck
A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey’s Ears and
Some Books
A Hillside Thaw
A Hundred Collars
A Late Walk
A Lone Striker
A Masque of Reason
A Patch of Old Snow
A Prayer in Spring
A Record Stride
A Reflex
A Roadside Stand
A Servant to Servants
Acceptance
Acquainted with the Night
After Apple-Picking
All Revelation
An Empty Threat
An Encounter
An Importer
An Old Man’s Winter Night
Asking for Roses
At Woodward’s Garden
1939
1920
1936
1923
page reference
324
535
257
196
1921
1913
1910
1933
1945
1916
1913
1932
1963
1936
1914
1928
1928
1914
1938
1923
1916
1947
1916
1913
1936
218
49
18
249
372
107
21
535
476
260
65
228
234
70
302
195
121
360
105
525
266
xviii
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-63248-5 - The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost
Edited by Robert Faggen
Frontmatter
More information
poems cited
Beech
Beyond Words
Birches
Blueberries
Brown’s Descent
Build Soil
Carpe Diem
Christmas Trees
Clear and Colder
Closed for Good
Come In
Departmental
Desert Places
Design
Directive
Dust of Snow
Evening in a Sugar Orchard
Fire and Ice
Fireflies in the Garden
For Once, Then, Something
Four-room Shack Aspiring High
Fragmentary Blue
From Plane to Plane
Gathering Leaves
Good Hours
Good-by and Keep Cold
Happiness Makes Up in Height For What
It Lacks in Length
Home Burial
How Hard It Is to Keep from Being King
When It’s in You and in the Situation
Hyla Brook
I Could Give All to Time
In a Vale
In Hardwood Groves
In Neglect
In the Home Stretch
Into My Own
[In Winter] untitled
Iris by Night
Kitty Hawk
1942
1947
1915
1914
1916
1936
1938
1916
1934
1948
1941
1936
1934
1934
1946
1920
1921
1920
1928
1920
1963
1920
1948
1923
1914
1920
1938
301
356
117
62
132
289
305
103
276
429
304
262
269
275
341
205
216
204
225
208
477
203
367
216
102
210
303
1914
1951
55
463
1916
1941
1913
1926
1913
1916
1909
1962
1936
1956
115
304
24
34
25
108
15
478
288
441
xix
© in this web service Cambridge University Press
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-63248-5 - The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost
Edited by Robert Faggen
Frontmatter
More information
poems cited
Lines Written in Dejection on the Eve of
Great Success
Love and a Question
Maple
Mending Wall
Mowing
My Butterfly
Neither Out Far Nor In Deep
Never Again Would Birds’ Song Be
the Same
New Hampshire
Not Quite Social
Nothing Gold Can Stay
October
On a Bird Singing in Its Sleep
On Looking Up by Chance at the
Constellations
Once by the Pacific
One More Brevity
One Step Backward Taken
On the Inflation of the Currency, 1919
Our Singing Strength
Out, Out
Pan with Us
Pertinax
Provide, Provide
Putting in the Seed
Questioning Faces
Revelation
Rose Pogonias
Snow
Spring Pools
Stars
Star in a Stone-Boat
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Storm Fear
Sycamore
Take Something Like a Star
The Ax-Helve
The Birthplace
The Black Cottage
1959
471
1913
1921
1914
1913
1894
1934
1942
17
168
39
26
36
274
308
1923
1935
1923
1912
1934
1928
151
279
206
35
275
246
1926
1953
1946
1919
1923
1916
1913
1936
1934
1914
1958
1913
1913
1923
1927
1913
1921
1923
1913
1942
1943
1917
1923
1914
229
432
340
535
220
220
32
281
280
120
456
27
22
137
224
19
162
207
19
301
365
173
243
59
xx
© in this web service Cambridge University Press
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-63248-5 - The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost
Edited by Robert Faggen
Frontmatter
More information
poems cited
The Bonfire
The Census-Taker
The Code
The Death of the Hired Man
The Demiurge’s Laugh
The Egg and the Machine
The Exposed Nest
The Fear
The Fear of God
The Generations of Men
The Gift Outright
The Gold Hesperidee
The Grindstone
The Gum-Gatherer
The Hardship of Accounting
The Hill Wife
The Housekeeper
The Impulse
The Last Mowing
The Later Minstrel
The Line-Gang
The Lovely Shall Be Choosers
The Mill City
The Most of It
The Mountain
The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
The Objection to Being Stepped On
The Oft Repeated Dream
The Onset
The Oven Bird
The Parlor Joke
The Pasture
The Pauper Witch of Grafton
The Quest of the Purple-Fringed
The Rabbit-Hunter
The Road Not Taken
The Rose Family
The Self-Seeker
The Silken Tent
The Sound of the Trees
The Star-Splitter
1916
1921
1914
1914
1913
1928
1916
1913
1947
1914
1942
1921
1921
1916
1936
1916
1914
1916
1928
1907
1916
1929
1905
1942
1914
1920
1957
1916
1921
1916
1910
1914
1921
1901
1942
1915
1927
1914
1939
1914
1923
125
164
71
40
33
248
106
89
349
74
316
258
176
134
282
122
82
122
242
511
135
234
509
307
45
223
460
122
209
116
516
3
187
311
327
103
225
93
302
150
166
xxi
© in this web service Cambridge University Press
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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-63248-5 - The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost
Edited by Robert Faggen
Frontmatter
More information
poems cited
The Strong Are Saying Nothing
The Subverted Flower
The Telephone
The Trial by Existence
The Tuft of Flowers
The Vanishing Red
The White-Tailed Hornet
The Wind and the Rain
The Witch of Coos
The Wood-Pile
The Young Birch
There Are Roughly Zones
They Were Welcome to Their Belief
To a Thinker
To a Young Wretch
To Earthward
To the Thawing Wind
Too Anxious for Rivers
Tree at My Window
Trespass
Two Look at Two
Two Tramps in Mud Time
Unharvested
West-Running Brook
When the Speed Comes
Wild Grapes
Willful Homing
1936
1942
1916
1906
1906
1916
1936
1922
1922
1914
1946
1936
1934
1936
1937
1923
1913
1947
1927
1939
1923
1934
1934
1928
1906
1920
1938
372
308
114
28
30
136
253
306
187
100
339
278
372
298
317
209
21
342
230
331
211
251
277
236
511
182
310
xxii
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