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Robert Frost

ロバート・フロスト

Robāto Furosuto

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1874-03-26 (San Francisco, California, U.S.)
Died
1963-01-29 (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) age 88
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Swedenborgian (baptized as child)
Residence History
Lawrence, Massachusetts → Derry, New Hampshire → Franconia, New Hampshire → Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England → Ann Arbor, Michigan → South Miami, Florida → Cambridge, Massachusetts → Shaftsbury, Vermont

Career

Occupations
Poet, Playwright, Teacher, Lecturer
Active Years
1894-1963
Affiliations
Amherst College (teacher/faculty), Bread Loaf School of English (Middlebury College), University of Michigan (Fellow in Letters)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected), American Philosophical Society (elected), Phi Beta Kappa (honorary member)
Influenced By
Robert Graves, Rupert Brooke, Thomas Hardy, W. B. Yeats, John Keats, Ralph Waldo Emerson
Influenced
Robert Francis, Seamus Heaney, Richard Wilbur, Edward Thomas, James Wright
Nominations
Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated 31 times)

Education

Dartmouth College
Period: 1892(在籍約2か月)
Country: United States
Attended briefly; did not earn a degree.
Harvard University
Period: 1897–1899(中途退学)
Country: United States
Left voluntarily due to illness; no degree.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1924
Work: New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1931
Work: Collected Poems
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1937
Work: A Further Range
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1943
Work: A Witness Tree
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Congressional Gold Medal
1960
Organization: United States Congress
Result: 受賞
Edward MacDowell Medal
1962
Organization: MacDowell Colony
Result: 受賞
Bollingen Prize
1963
Organization: Bollingen Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Poet Laureate of Vermont
1961
Organization: Vermont State Legislature
Result: 任命
United States Poet Laureate
1958
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: 任命

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Boy's Will

1913 Poetry collection

Frost's debut collection containing early poems exploring youth, self-discovery and reflective lyric pieces.

natureself-discoveryyouth

North of Boston

1914 Poetry collection (includes dramatic monologues)

A key collection containing dramatic poems set in rural New England, examining relationships, loneliness, and moral dilemmas.

New Englandhuman relationshipsisolation

Mountain Interval (includes 'The Road Not Taken')

1916 Poetry collection

Collection that includes the famous 'The Road Not Taken', exploring choices, regret, and life as a metaphorical journey.

choiceregretlife-as-journey

New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes

1923 Poetry collection

Contains major poems including 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' and 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'. Winner of the 1924 Pulitzer Prize.

naturelife and deathphilosophy in the ordinary

A Witness Tree

1942 Poetry collection

One of Frost's important later collections, reflecting personal experience and nature; winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize.

personal recollectionnatureexistential reflection

Bibliography

  • A Boy's Will (1913)
  • North of Boston (1914)
  • Mountain Interval (1916)
  • New Hampshire (1923)
  • A Further Range (1936)
  • A Witness Tree (1942)
  • Complete Poems (1949)
  • In the Clearing (1962)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Colloquial diction emphasizing spoken rhythmsUse of traditional meter and formsRealistic, narrative and often allegorical expression
Recurring Motifs
nature and landscape (New England)isolation and human relationshipschoice and fatelife and death

Health

  • Major depressive disorder (family history of mental illness)
    生涯にわたる断続的な症状(具体的罹患期間は不明)
    Intermittent depressive episodes influenced personal life and creative work; mental illness also affected family members.

Legacy

Robert Frost is celebrated for fusing colloquial rhythms with traditional forms set against New England landscapes; he is the only poet to have won four Pulitzer Prizes and remains a prominent public literary figure in American culture.

Museums

  • The Frost Place (Robert Frost Farm) Franconia/Derry, New Hampshire, U.S.
  • Robert Frost Stone House Museum Shaftsbury, Vermont, U.S. Opened in 2002
  • Robert Frost Farm (Derry) preservation site Derry, New Hampshire, U.S.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Philosophical Society

Archives

  • Jones Library Special Collections (Amherst)
  • Dartmouth College Library (major manuscript holdings)
  • University of Michigan Library (Robert Frost Family Collection)
  • Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College (holds papers)

In Popular Culture

  • 'Fire and Ice' influenced the title and themes of George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire'.
  • 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' is quoted in S. E. Hinton's 'The Outsiders' and its film adaptation, entering popular culture.
  • Poems like 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' are frequently quoted at public events (e.g., associations with JFK inauguration reading).

Quotes

  • No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader. For me the initial delight is in the surprise of remembering something I didn't know I knew... [Poetry] must be a revelation, or a series of revelations, for the poet as for the reader.
    Source: Essay 'The Figure a Poem Makes' (1939)

Trivia

  • The only poet to win four Pulitzer Prizes.
  • Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 31 times.
  • Invited to read at John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration; recited 'The Gift Outright' from memory when sunlight prevented reading the prepared text.