Every poet or writer has a back story. Their origins and the people and events that shaped their lives matter because these things are sometimes carried over in to their works. They are often times the backbone of their poetry and give the poems their meaning that they themselves want the reader to find.
Early Life
Robert Frost's early life was far from easy. He was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco to William Prescott Frost Jr. and Isabelle Moodie Frost. His father had moved the family to California after he had found a position as a newspaper reporter. This would however change abruptly in the year 1885 when Frost's father succumbed to tuberculosis at the young age of thirty-four leaving his mother a widow with two small children. His mother decided to move Robert and his young sister Jean to Massachusetts. The family would eventually uproot and move to New Hampshire. It was in New Hampshire where Frost would attend high school where he would do very well academically. This was where he would begin his writing of poetry, which was written into the school newspaper. After graduating in 1892, he would be accepted to Dartmouth College, where he would only last a year before deciding to drop out. (Dow)
Married Life
Frost would find love in his high school sweetheart, Elinor Miriam White who was also his co- valedictorian. The two would marry in 1895. He would have to work many different jobs to support her. These included teaching and farming but the problem was neither one proved to be very successful. The early 1900s would see the birth of six children. Sadly, two of his children would die at a very young age. Son Carol, and three daughters: Irma, Lesley, and Marjorie would survive to adulthood. He would take this time to resume college at the prestigious Harvard. He would yet again drop out after two years. He would go on to say, "We go to college to be given one more chance to learn to read in case we haven't learned in high school" (Dow) It would not be until 1912 that the Frost family would move to London after the lack of reception he was receiving from the American publishers. He would get a better reception from England and would have several poems published while there including, A Boy's Will and a collection of poems titled North of Boston.
Later Life
Robert Frost in his later life would become known as the greatest poet since Walt Whitman. In the year 1947 he began to experience pains in his wrist and his chest. This happened shortly after a review, of his poem Steeple Bush came out where it was reviewed by Randall Jarrell who wrote for the New York Times Book Review. He made the statement "most of the poems merely remind you, by their persistence in the mannerisms of what was genius, that they are the productions of someone who once, and somewhere else, was a great poet." Frost went to the doctor but they could find no evidence of an attack. (Pritchard, 522)
His later life would also see him as a poet in residence at several colleges including the University of Michigan, Harvard, Dartmouth, and finally at Amherst College. He would go on to win four Pulitzer Prizes and receive many other honors as well. The life of this great American poet would come to an end on January 29, 1963 after suffering a series of pulmonary embolisms. (Dow)