Editing Robert Frost (section)

==Biography==
===Early life===
[[File:Robert Frost, 1910s.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Frost, c. 1910]]
Robert Frost was born in [[San Francisco]] to journalist William Prescott Frost Jr. and Isabelle Moodie.<ref name=britannica/> His father was a descendant of Nicholas Frost of [[Tiverton, Devon]], England, who had sailed to [[New Hampshire]] in 1634 on the ''Wolfrana'', and his mother was a Scottish immigrant.

Frost was also a descendant of [[Samuel Appleton (born 1625)|Samuel Appleton]], one of the early English settlers of [[Ipswich, Massachusetts]], and [[George Phillips (Watertown)|Rev. George Phillips]], one of the early English settlers of [[Watertown, Massachusetts|Watertown]], Massachusetts.<ref>Watson, Marsten. ''Royal Families - Americans of Royal and Noble Ancestry. Volume Three: Samuel Appleton and His Wife Judith Everard and Five Generations of Their Descendants''. 2010.</ref>

Frost's father was a teacher and later an editor of the ''[[San Francisco Evening Bulletin]]'' (which later merged with the ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]''), and an unsuccessful candidate for city tax collector.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Rothman |first=Joshua |date=January 29, 2013 |orig-date=January 29, 2013 |title=Robert Frost: Darkness or Light? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/robert-frost-darkness-or-light |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019033538/https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/robert-frost-darkness-or-light |archive-date=October 19, 2023 |access-date=July 30, 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> After his death on May 5, 1885, the family moved across the country to [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]], Massachusetts, under the patronage of Robert's grandfather William Frost Sr., who was an overseer at a New England mill. Frost graduated from [[Lawrence High School (Massachusetts)|Lawrence High School]] in 1892, where he published his first poem in the high school magazine, served as class poet and, with his future wife Elinor White, was co-valedictorian.<ref>{{cite book | last=Ehrlich | first=Eugene | author2=Carruth, Gorton | title=The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States | volume=50 | location=New York | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1982 | isbn=0-19-503186-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00euge }}</ref><ref name=":Poetry Foundation"/> Frost's mother joined the [[The New Church|Swedenborgian]] church and had him baptized in it, but he left it as an adult.

Although known for his later association with rural life, Frost grew up in the city. He attended [[Dartmouth College]] for two months, long enough to be accepted into the [[Theta Delta Chi]] fraternity. Frost returned home to teach and to work at various jobs, helping his mother teach her class of unruly boys, delivering newspapers and working in a factory maintaining [[carbon arc lamp]]s. He said that he did not enjoy these jobs, feeling that his true calling was to write poetry.

===Adult years===
[[File:Robertfrostfarm.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Robert Frost Farm (Derry, New Hampshire)|Robert Frost Farm]] in [[Derry, New Hampshire]], where he wrote many of his poems, including "Tree at My Window" and "[[Mending Wall]]"]]
[[File:Robert Frost NYWTS 5.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Frost's 85th birthday in 1959]]
[[File:Robert Frost's epitaph.jpg|thumb|upright=1|"I had a lover's quarrel with the world", an excerpt from his poem "The Lesson for Today", is the epitaph engraved on Frost's tomb.]]
In 1894, he sold his first poem, "My Butterfly. An Elegy" (published in the November 8, 1894, edition of [[The Independent (New York City)|''The Independent'']] of New York) for $15 (${{Inflation|US|15|1894}} today). Proud of his accomplishment, he proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White, but she demurred, wanting to finish college at [[St. Lawrence University]] before they married. Frost then went on an excursion to the [[Great Dismal Swamp]] in [[Virginia]] and asked Elinor again upon his return. Having graduated, she agreed, and they were married in [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]], [[Massachusetts]], on December 19, 1895.

Frost attended [[Harvard University]] from 1897 to 1899, but he left voluntarily due to illness.<ref name="TutenZubizarreta2001">{{cite book|author1=Nancy Lewis Tuten|author2=John Zubizarreta|title=The Robert Frost encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47NFEPDDBMgC&pg=PA146|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29464-8|page=145|quote=Halfway through the spring semester of his second year, Dean Briggs released him from Harvard without prejudice, lamenting the loss of so good a student.}}</ref><ref name="Parini2000">{{cite book|author=Jay Parini|title=Robert Frost: A Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHWqRHJiAlwC&pg=PA12-IA9|year=2000|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-8050-6341-7|pages=64–65}}</ref><ref name="Meyers1996">{{cite book|author=Jeffrey Meyers|title=Robert Frost: a biography|url=https://archive.org/details/robertfrost00jeff|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=9780395856031|quote=Frost remained at Harvard until March of his sophomore year, when he decamped in the middle of a term&nbsp;...}}</ref> Shortly before his death, Frost's grandfather purchased [[Robert Frost Farm (Derry, New Hampshire)|a farm]] for Robert and Elinor in [[Derry, New Hampshire|Derry]], [[New Hampshire]]; Frost worked the farm for nine years while writing early in the mornings and producing many of the poems that would later become famous. Ultimately his farming proved unsuccessful and he returned to the field of education as an English teacher at New Hampshire's [[Pinkerton Academy]] from 1906 to 1911, then at the New Hampshire Normal School (now [[Plymouth State University]]) in [[Plymouth, New Hampshire|Plymouth]], New Hampshire.

In 1912, Frost sailed with his family to [[Great Britain]], settling first in [[Beaconsfield]], a small town in [[Buckinghamshire]] outside London. His first book of poetry, ''[[A Boy's Will]]'', was published the next year. In England he made some important acquaintances, including [[Edward Thomas (poet)|Edward Thomas]] (a member of the group known as the [[Dymock poets]] and Frost's inspiration for "[[The Road Not Taken]]"<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DQMbBQAAQBAJ|publisher = Penguin|date = August 18, 2015|isbn = 9780698140899|language = en|first = David|last = Orr}}</ref>), [[T. E. Hulme]] and [[Ezra Pound]]. Although Pound would become the first American to write a favorable review of Frost's work, Frost later resented Pound's attempts to manipulate his American [[metre (poetry)|prosody]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meyers |first1=Jeffrey |title=Robert Frost: A Biography |date=1996 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |isbn=9780395728093 |pages=107–109}}</ref> Frost met or befriended many contemporary poets in England, especially after his first two poetry volumes were published in London in 1913 (''A Boy's Will'') and 1914 (''[[North of Boston]]'').

In 1915, during [[World War I]], Frost returned to America, where [[Henry Holt and Company|Holt's]] American edition of ''A Boy's Will'' had recently been published, and bought a farm in [[Franconia, New Hampshire|Franconia]], New Hampshire, where he launched a career of writing, teaching and lecturing. This family homestead served as the Frosts' summer home until 1938. It is maintained today as [[The Frost Place]], a museum and poetry conference site. He was made an honorary member of [[Phi Beta Kappa]] at Harvard<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1926|jstor=42914052|journal=The Phi Beta Kappa Key|volume=6|issue=4|pages=237–240|title=Phi Beta Kappa Authors}}</ref> in 1916. During the years 1917–20, 1923–25, and, on a more informal basis, 1926–1938, Frost taught English at [[Amherst College]] in Massachusetts, notably encouraging his students to account for the myriad sounds and intonations of the spoken English language in their writing. He called his colloquial approach to language "the sound of sense".<ref name="www.learner.org series57">{{cite web|url=http://www.learner.org/resources/series57.html|title=Resource: Voices & Visions|website=www.learner.org|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref>

He won the first of four [[Pulitzer Prize]]s for ''[[New Hampshire (poetry collection)|New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes]]'' (1923).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/robert-frost|title=The 1924 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Poetry|website=Pulitzer.org|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref> He would win  Pulitzers for ''[[Collected Poems of Robert Frost|Collected Poems]]'' (1930),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/robert-frost-0|title=The 1931 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Poetry|website=Pulitzer.org|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref> ''[[A Further Range]]'' (1936)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/robert-frost-1|title=The 1937 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Poetry|website=Pulitzer.org|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref> and ''A Witness Tree'' (1942).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/robert-frost-2|title=The 1943 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Poetry|website=Pulitzer.org|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref>

From 1921 to 1962, Frost spent almost every summer and fall teaching at the [[Bread Loaf School of English]] of [[Middlebury College]], at its mountain campus at [[Ripton, Vermont|Ripton]], [[Vermont]]. He is credited with being a major influence upon the development of the school and its writing programs. The college now owns and maintains his former Ripton farmstead, a [[National Historic Landmark]], near the Bread Loaf campus.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Brief History of the Bread Loaf School of English |url=http://www.middlebury.edu/blse/about/history |website=Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English |access-date=February 11, 2018}}</ref> In 1921, Frost accepted a fellowship teaching post at the [[University of Michigan, Ann Arbor]], where he resided until 1927, when he returned to teach at Amherst. While teaching at the University of Michigan, he was awarded a lifetime appointment at the university as a Fellow in Letters.<ref name = Frost/> The Robert Frost Ann Arbor home was purchased by [[The Henry Ford]] Museum in [[Dearborn, Michigan|Dearborn]], [[Michigan]] and relocated to the museum's Greenfield Village site for public tours. Throughout the 1920s, Frost also lived in his [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial-era]] house in [[Shaftsbury, Vermont|Shaftsbury]], Vermont. In 2002, the house was opened to the public as the [[Robert Frost Stone House Museum]]<ref name="stone_house">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bennington.edu/robert-frost-stone-house-museum|title=Robert Frost Stone House Museum &#124; Bennington College|website=www.bennington.edu}}</ref> and was given to [[Bennington College]] in 2017.<ref name="stone_house"/>

In 1934, Frost began to spend winter months in [[Florida]].<ref name="Helen Muir" /> In March 1935, he gave a talk at the [[University of Miami]].<ref name="Helen Muir" /> In 1940, he bought a {{convert|5|acre|adj=on}} plot in South Miami, Florida, naming it ''Pencil Pines''; he spent his winters there for the rest of his life.<ref name="Helen Muir">{{cite book|title=Frost in Florida: a memoir|last=Muir|first=Helen|publisher=Valiant Press|year=1995|isbn=0-9633461-6-4|pages=11, 17}}</ref> In her memoir about Frost's time in Florida, [[Helen Muir (reporter)|Helen Muir]] writes, "Frost had called his five acres ''Pencil Pines'' because he said he had never made a penny from anything that did not involve the use of a pencil."<ref name="Helen Muir" /> His properties also included a [[Robert Frost House|house]] on Brewster Street in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], Massachusetts.

Frost was appointed [[United States Poet Laureate]] in 1958 by [[Librarian of Congress]] [[Lawrence Quincy Mumford]], serving for one year until succeeded by [[Richard Eberhart]]. He was 86 when he performed a reading at the [[inauguration of John F. Kennedy]] on January 20, 1961. Frost began by attempting to read his poem "Dedication", which he had composed for the occasion, but due to the brightness of the sunlight he was unable to see the text, so he recited "[[The Gift Outright]]" from memory instead.<ref>"John F. Kennedy: A Man of This Century". ''CBS''. November 22, 1963.</ref> In the summer of 1962, he accompanied Interior Secretary [[Stewart Udall]] on a visit to the Soviet Union in hopes of meeting [[Nikita Khrushchev]] to lobby for peaceful relations between the two Cold War powers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jfkthelastspeech.org/frost-the-poet-politician/|title=The Poet - Politician - JFK The Last Speech|work=JFK The Last Speech|access-date=October 25, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/specials/frost-last.html|title=Robert Frost's Last Adventure|last=Udall|first=Stewart L.|date=June 11, 1972|website=archive.nytimes.com|access-date=October 25, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2008/0408/p13s01-bogn.html|title=When Robert Frost met Khrushchev|date=April 8, 2008|work=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=October 25, 2018|issn=0882-7729}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/listen-2|title=Remembering John F. Kennedy's Last Speech|last=Schachter|first=Aaron|date=August 10, 2018|work=All Things Considered|access-date=October 25, 2018|language=en}}</ref>

In the early hours of January 29, 1963, Frost died at [[Peter Bent Brigham Hospital]] in Boston, at the age of 88.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/specials/frost-obit.html|title = Robert Frost Dies at 88; Kennedy Leads in Tribute|agency = [[Associated Press]]|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date = January 30, 1963|accessdate = September 24, 2024}}</ref> He was buried in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. His [[epitaph]], from the last line of his poem "The Lesson for Today" (1942), is: "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

===Personal life===
[[File:Robert Frost's Grave.JPG|thumb|upright=1|The Frost family grave in Bennington Old Cemetery]]
Frost's personal life was plagued by grief and loss. In 1885, when he was 11, his father died of [[tuberculosis]], leaving the family with just eight dollars. Frost's mother died of [[cancer]] in 1900. In 1920, he had to commit his younger sister Jeanie to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost's family, as both he and his mother suffered from [[Major depressive disorder|depression]], and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost's wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.<ref name = Frost/>

Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliott (1896–1900, died of [[cholera]]); daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983); son Carol (1902–1940); daughter Irma (1903–1967); daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of [[puerperal fever]] after childbirth); and daughter Elinor Bettina (died just one day after her birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost's wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed [[breast cancer]] in 1937 and died of [[heart failure]] in 1938.<ref name="Frost">{{cite book |last=Frost |first=Robert |editor1-last=Poirier |editor1-first=Richard |editor2-last=Richardson |editor2-first=Mark |title=Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays |series=The Library of America |volume=81 |location=New York |publisher=Library of America |year=1995 |isbn=1-883011-06-X |url=https://archive.org/details/collectedpoemspr00fros }}</ref>