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Congressional Gold Medal Recipient
Robert Lee Frost
Poet Robert Frost (right) receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from President John F. Kennedy, 1962
Robert Frost b. San Francisco, San Francisco, California, 26 March 1874
d. Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, 29 January 1963
Tuesday, 13 September 1960
AN ACT Authorizing the President of the United States of America to present a gold medal to Robert Frost, a New England poet. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized to present, in the name of Congress, an appropriate gold medal to Robert Frost in recognition of his poetry, which has enriched the culture of the United States and the philosophy of the world. For such purpose, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause to be struck a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. SEC. 2. There is authorized to be appropriated the sum of $2,500 to carry out the provisions of this Act. 74 Stat. 883
Robert Frost, the Man
Robert Lee Frost, b. San Francisco, Mar. 26, 1874, d. Boston, Jan. 29, 1963, was one of America's leading 20th-century poets and a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. An essentially pastoral poet often associated with rural New England, Frost wrote poems whose philosophical dimensions transcend any region. Although his verse forms are traditional--he often said, in a dig at archrival Carl Sandburg, that he would as soon play tennis without a net as write free verse--he was a pioneer in the interplay of rhythm and meter and in the poetic use of the vocabulary and inflections of everyday speech. His poetry is thus both traditional and experimental, regional and universal. After his father's death in 1885, when young Frost was 11, the family left California and settled in Massachusetts. Frost attended high school in that state, entered Dartmouth College, but remained less than one semester. Returning to Massachusetts, he taught school and worked in a mill and as a newspaper reporter. In 1894 he sold "My Butterfly: An Elegy" to The Independent, a New York literary journal. A year later he married Elinor White, with whom he had shared valedictorian honors at Lawrence (Mass.) High School. From 1897 to 1899 he attended Harvard College as a special student but left without a degree. Over the next ten years he wrote (but rarely published) poems, operated a farm in Derry, New Hampshire (purchased for him by his paternal grandfather), and supplemented his income by teaching at Derry's Pinkerton Academy. In 1912, at the age of 38, he sold the farm and used the proceeds to take his family to England, where he could devote himself entirely to writing. His efforts to establish himself and his work were almost immediately successful. A Boy's Will was accepted by a London publisher and brought out in 1913, followed a year later by North of Boston. Favorable reviews on both sides of the Atlantic resulted in American publication of the books by Henry Holt and Company, Frost's primary American publisher, and in the establishing of Frost's transatlantic reputation. As part of his determined efforts on his own behalf, Frost had called on several prominent literary figures soon after his arrival in England. One of these was Ezra POUND, who wrote the first American review of Frost's verse for Harriet Munroe's Poetry magazine. (Though he disliked Pound, Frost was later instrumental in obtaining Pound's release from long confinement in a Washington, D.C., mental hospital.) Frost was more favorably impressed and more lastingly influenced by the so-called Georgian poets Lascelles Abercrombie, Rupert BROOKE, and T. E. Hulme, whose rural subjects and style were more in keeping with his own. While living near the Georgians in Gloucestershire, Frost became especially close to a brooding Welshman named Edward Thomas, whom he urged to turn from prose to poetry. Thomas did so, dedicating his first and only volume of verse to Frost before his death in World War I. The Frosts sailed for the United States in February 1915 and landed in New York City two days after the U.S. publication of North of Boston (the first of his books to be published in America). Sales of that book and of A Boy's Will enabled Frost to buy a farm in Franconia, N.H.; to place new poems in literary periodicals and publish a third book, Mountain Interval (1916); and to embark on a long career of writing, teaching, and lecturing. In 1924 he received a Pulitzer Prize in poetry for New Hampshire (1923). He was lauded again for Collected Poems (1930), A Further Range (1936), and A Witness Tree (1942). Over the years he received an unprecedented number and range of literary, academic, and public honors. Frost's importance as a poet derives from the power and memorability of particular poems. "The Death of the Hired Man" (from North of Boston) combines lyric and dramatic poetry in blank verse. "After Apple-Picking" (from the same volume) is a free-verse dream poem with philosophical undertones. "Mending Wall" (also published in North of Boston) demonstrates Frost's simultaneous command of lyrical verse, dramatic conversation, and ironic commentary. "The Road Not Taken" and "Birches" (from Mountain Interval) and the oft-studied "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (from New Hampshire) exemplify Frost's ability to join the pastoral and philosophical modes in lyrics of unforgettable beauty. Frost's poetic and political conservatism caused him to lose favor with some literary critics, but his reputation as a major poet is secure. He unquestionably succeeded in realizing his life's ambition: to write "a few poems it will be hard to get rid of." Reviewed by R.H. Winnick
Bibliography: Brower, Reuben A., The Poetry of Robert Frost(1963); Brunshaw, Stanley, Robert Frost Himself (1986); Frost, Robert, The Poetry of Robert Frost, ed. by Edward Connery Lathem (1969), Selected Letters, ed. by Lawrance Thompson (1964), and Selected Prose, ed. by Lathem and Hyde Cox (1966); Gerber, Philip L., Robert Frost (1966) and, as ed., Critical Essays on Robert Frost (1982); Hall, D., Robert Frost: Contours of Belief (1980); Katz, S.L., Elinor Frost (1988); Lathem, E.C., ed., Robert Frost's Poetry and Prose (1984); Poirier, Richard, Robert Frost (1977); Pritchard, William H., Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered (1984); Thompson, Lawrance, Robert Frost, 3 vols. (1966-76); Thompson, L., and Winnick, R.H., Robert Frost: A Biography, ed. by E.C. Lathem (1981); Walsh, John Evangelist, Into My Own: The English Years of Robert Frost, 1912-1915 (1988)."
Some Poems of Robert Frost 1949 The Pasture A Boy's Will Into My Own My November Guest Stars To the Thawing Wind A Prayer in Spring Flower-Gathering Rose Pogonias A Dream Pang In Neglect The Vantage Point Mowing Going For Water Revelation The Tuft of Flowers The Demiurge's Laugh Now Close the Windows In Hardwood Groves October Reluctance The Trial by Existence Pan With Us A Line-Storm Song My Butterfly Ghost House Love and A Question North of Boston Mending Wall The Death of The Hired Man Home Burial After Apple-Picking The Wood-Pile Good Hours The Code The Fear A Servant to Servants The Self-Seeker The Mountain The Housekeeper The Generations of Men The Black Cottage A Hundred Collars Blueberries
Mountain Interval The Road Not Taken An Old Man's Winter Night The Exposed Nest A Patch of Old Snow The Telephone Meeting and Passing Hyla Brook The Oven Bird Bond and Free Birches Putting In The Seed A Time to Talk The Cow In Apple-Time Range-Finding The Hill Wife 'Out, Out--' The Gum-Gatherer The Line-Gang The Vanishing Red New Hampshire The Grindstone I Will Sing You One-O I Will Sing You One-O Fragmentary Blue Fire and Ice In A Disused Grave Yard Dust of Snow To E.T. Nothing Gold Can Stay The Runaway The Aim was Song Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening For Once, Then, Something Blue-Butterfly Day The Onset To Earthward Good-by and Keep Cold Two Look At Two A Brook In The City The Kitchen Chimney A Boundless Moment Evening in a Sugar Orchard Gathering Leaves The Valley's Singing Day Misgiving A Hillside Thaw Plowmen On a Tree Fallen Across the Road Our Singing Strength The Lockless Door The Need of Being Versed In Country Things West-Running Brook Spring Pools The Freedom of the Moon The Rose Family Fireflies in the Garden Atmosphere Devotion On Going Unnoticed Acceptance The Cocoon A Passing Glimpse A Peck of Gold Once By The Pacific Lodged A Minor Bird Bereft Tree At My Window The Peaceful Shepherd A Winter Eden The Thatch The Flood Acquainted With the Night Sand Dunes Canis Major A Soldier Immigrants Hannibal The Flower Boat The Times Table The Investment The Last Mowing The Birthplace The Door in the Dark Dust in the Eyes Sitting by a Bush in Broad Sunlight The Armful What Fifty Said Riders On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations The Bear The Egg and the Machine
Robert Frost - Poet Personal Family Life Date Event 3-26-74 Birth of Robert Lee Frost, San Francisco, Cal. 6-25-76 Birth of Jeanie Frost (sister) 5-5-1885 Death of father, Will Frost, in San Francisco. Family returns to Lawrence, Mass. for burial. Sept, 1888 Robert enters Lawrence High School May, 1890 Robert publishes his first poem La Noche Triste June, 1892 Robert graduates from Lawrence High School sharing valedictorian honors with Elinor White. Sept., 1892 Enters Dartmouth. Leaves before end of term. 1893 - 1894 Taught in local schools. Worked in the mills. 11-8-94 First poem published: "My Butterfly: An Elegy" 1895 Worked as a reporter, taught school. 12-19-95 Married Elinor Miriam White in Lawrence. 9-25-96 First child, Elliott, born to Rob and Elinor. Sept., 1897 Entered Harvard College. 3-31-1899 Left Harvard. Returned to Lawrence. 4-28-1899 Second child, daughter Lesley born. 7-8-1900 First child, Elliott dies. Oct., 1900 Frost family moves to farm, Derry, N. H. 11-2-1900 Frost's mother, Isabelle, dies of cancer. 5-27-1902 Third child, son Carol born. 6-27-1903 Fourth child, daughter Irma born. 3-29-1905 Fifth child, daughter Marjorie born. 6-18-1907 Sixth child, Elinor Bettina born -dies within days. 11-16-1911 Sold Derry Farm. Lived in Plymouth, N. H. and taught at N. H. State Normal School. Sept., 1912 The Frost family sailed for England. 10-26-1912 First book of poetry accepted by publisher. 5-15-1914 Second book published 2-13-1915 The Frost family returns to the U. S. Buys farm in Franconia, N. H. Oct., 1920 Moves to Shaftsbury, Vermont, buys the Stone House. Dec., 1928 Buys second farm, The Gulley in Shaftsbury. 9-7-1929 Sister Jeanie, dies. 5-2-1934 Daughter Marjorie dies following childbirth. 3-20-1938 Wife, Elinor dies of a heart attack in Florida. Summer, 1938 Frost rents apartment in Boston. Sept., 1939 Frost buys The Homer Noble Farm, Ripton, Vt to use as a summer residence. Oct 9, 1940 Son Carol dies of suicide in Shaftsbury. Spring, 1941 Frost buys home in Cambridge, Mass 1-29-1963 Frost dies in Boston. Burial in Bennington
Publication of Works Date Title of Work April, 1913 May, 1914 Feb, 1915 April, 1915 Nov, 1916 Mar, 1923 Nov, 1923 Nov, 1928 Nov, 1930 May, 1936 Feb, 1939 April, 1942 Mar, 1945 May, 1947 Sept, 1947 April, 1949 Mar, 1962 A Boy's Will, English edition North of Boston, English edition North of Boston, American edition A Boy's Will, American edition Mountain Interval Selected Poems New Hampshire West-running Brook Collected Poems A Further Range Collected Poems A Witness Tree A Masque of Reason Steeple Bush A Masque of Mercy Complete Poems In the Clearing
Honors Awards Degrees High School: Co-Valedictorian & Hood Prize for Scholastic Excellence Phi Beta Kappa Poet: Tufts College, 1915 Harvard, 1916 Columbia, 1932 Tufts, 1940 Harvard, 1941 College of William and Mary, 1941 Member National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1916 Member American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1930 Hon. Member St. Botolph Club, Boston, 1932 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, Harvard 1936 Member American Philosophical Society, 1937 Board of Overseers, Harvard College, 1938 Ralph Waldo Emerson Fellow in Poetry, Harvard 1939 Associate of Adams House, Harvard Univ. 1939. Life appointment, Simpson Lecturer in Literature. Amherst, 1949 Consultant in Poetry in the Library of Congress 1958-59. Inaugural Poet for President John F. Kennedy, 1961 Poet Laureate of Vermont, 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in the following years: 1923 New Hampshire 1931 Collected Poems 1937 A Further Range 1943 A Witness Tree Russell Loines Poetry Prize, 1931 Gold Medal for Poetry, National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1939 Gold Medal, Poetry Society of America, 1941. Gold Medal, Limited Editions Club, 1949 Award, Academy of American Poets, 1953 First Annual Poetry Award, Boston Arts Festival, 1954 Medal for Distinguished Service in the Fields of Am. Literature, Theodore Roosevelt Society, 1954 Medal of Honor, New York University 1956 Gold Medal, Holland Society of New York, 1957 Gold Medal for Distinguished Service, Poetry Society of America, 1958 Medal for Achievements in the Arts, Signet Society, Harvard College, 1958 Emerson-Thoreau Medal, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1958 Huntington Hartford Foundation Award, 1958 Congressional Gold Medal, 1960 Edward MacDowell Medal, 1962 Congressional Medal presented by Pres. J. F. Kennedy, 1962 Bollingen Prize in Poetry, 1963
Honorary Degrees M. A. Amherst, 1918 M. A.University of Mich.1922 L.H.D. University of Vermont 1923 Litt. D. Middlebury College 1924 Litt. D. Yale 1924 Litt D. Bowdoin 1926 Litt D. University of New Hampshire 1930 L.H.D. Wesleyan 1931 Litt. D. Columbia 1932 L.H.D. Williams 1932 Litt. D. Dartmouth 1933 L.H.D. St. Lawrence University, 1936 L.H.D. University of Pennsylvania 1936 L.H.D. Bates, 1936 Litt D. Harvard, 1937 L.H.D. University of Colorado, 1939 Litt. D. Princeton 1941 Litt. D. Kenyon College, 1945 LL. D. Univ of California, 1947 Litt. D. Duke, 1948 Litt. D. Amherst, 1948 Litt. D. Colgate, 1950 Litt. D. Marlboro 1950 Litt. D. Univ. of Durham, England 1951 Litt. D. Univ. of Massachusetts 1951 Litt. D. Univ. of North Carolina, 1953 LL. D. Univ. of Cincinnati, 1954 LL. D., Dartmouth, 1955 Litt. D. University of Rhode Island, 1955 LL. D., Colby College, 1956 Litt. D., Oxford Univ., Cambridge Univ., National University, Ireland and Ohio State University, 1957 L.H.D. Miami Univ., 1959 Litt. D., Syracuse University, 1959 Litt. D., Tufts University, 1959 LL. D., University of Florida, 1960 L.H.D., Hebrew Union College, 1960 LL. D. University of Miami, 1961 Litt. D., Windham College, 1961 Litt. D., Boston University, 1961 LL. D. University of Michigan, 1962 L.H.D., University of Detroit, 1962
Academic Career Dates School of Learning Spring, 1893 Spring, 1894 Spring, 1895 Spring, 1906 - June 1911 Sept, 1911 - 1912 Jan, 1917 - May 1920 Sept 1921 - 1922 Nov. 1923 - 1925 Sept. 1925 Sept. 1926 - June, 1938 1933 May, 1939 -1943 Sept, 1943 - 1949 Oct. 1949 1938 - 1962 Methuen Elementary School Salem District School Private School of Isabelle Moodie Frost Pinkerton Academy New Hampshire State Normal School Amherst College University of Michigan, "Poet in Residence" and "Fellow in Creative Arts" Amherst College, Professor of English University of Michigan, "Fellow in Letters" Amherst College, Professor of English Associate Fellow, Pierson College, Yale University Harvard University, Ralph Waldo Emerson Fellow in Poetry Dartmouth College, George Ticknor Fellow in the Humanities Amherst, Simpson Lecturer in Literature Lecturer, Bread Loaf School of English and Writers' Conference
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