In Love With Robert Frost!

GreyIxia · Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:06 pm

Haha, that's such a funny word... But don't worry, I caught my breath.

nova · Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:37 pm

In the mail today I got a copy of Frosts complete work. I have always liked Frost. As I have gotten older I find I understand his poems on a much deeper level. Frost, for me, has always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure. In that liking Frost was somewhat akin to admiting to listening to Glen Campbell. Not cool. The nice thing about getting older is I don't care anymore.

Saffron · Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:29 pm


	nova wrote: In the mail today I got a copy of Frosts complete work. I have always liked Frost. As I have gotten older I find I understand his poems on a much deeper level. Frost, for me, has always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure. In that liking Frost was somewhat akin to admiting to listening to Glen Campbell. Not cool. The nice thing about getting older is I don't care anymore.

Yikes!!! Frost, a guilty pleasure????!!!!! I see no similarity between listening to Glen Campbell and reading Robert Frost. Frost has written some of the most beautiful poems ever written. His poetry is deceptively simple.

bleachededen · Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:42 am

My favorite poetry professor in college pointed out to us that all of Robert Frost's poems are written in the same meter, a meter, it seems, he made up, possibly without realizing it.

What my professor pointed out is that Frost's poems are all written in iambic tetrameter (4 beats to a line), and he called this form "the American sonnet."

Example:
(italicized words are emphasized syllables, or beats)

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
(from "Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening")

I found that fascinating and often write in that form myself. It's almost as easy as free verse and far more close to current language (and less tricky or clunky than) iambic pentameter. I just love the way it flows, and even though Frost isn't one of my more favorite poets, this form of verse has influenced me as much as those of my absolute favorite poets. You can pretty much learn from any poet, if you let yourself be open.

I'm sorry, my poetry major is showing, isn't it? :blush:

oblivion · Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:53 am

Nova, you said " Frost, for me, has always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure. In that liking Frost was somewhat akin to admiting to listening to Glen Campbell. Not cool."You poor thing. Seriously. Who in the world claimed Frost was uncool and made you feel guilty about reading and enjoying one of the finest poets who ever walked this earth???

And Bleached Eden, I certainly enjoyed your post.

DWill · Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:10 am


	bleachededen wrote: My favorite poetry professor in college pointed out to us that all of Robert Frost's poems are written in the same meter, a meter, it seems, he made up, possibly without realizing it. What my professor pointed out is that Frost's poems are all written in iambic tetrameter (4 beats to a line), and he called this form "the American sonnet." Example: (italicized words are emphasized syllables, or beats) Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. (from "Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening") I found that fascinating and often write in that form myself. It's almost as easy as free verse and far more close to current language (and less tricky or clunky than) iambic pentameter. I just love the way it flows, and even though Frost isn't one of my more favorite poets, this form of verse has influenced me as much as those of my absolute favorite poets. You can pretty much learn from any poet, if you let yourself be open. I'm sorry, my poetry major is showing, isn't it?

I had a less serious professor somewhere along the way, who said you could chant "Stopping By Woods" to the tune of "Hernando's Hideaway." Now I hope I haven't just ruined the poem for everyone. It's great, by the way, to have a poetry major as part of the group.

DWill · Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:27 am


	nova wrote: In the mail today I got a copy of Frosts complete work. I have always liked Frost. As I have gotten older I find I understand his poems on a much deeper level. Frost, for me, has always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure. In that liking Frost was somewhat akin to admiting to listening to Glen Campbell. Not cool. The nice thing about getting older is I don't care anymore.

I know what you mean, Nova. I won't inquire about your age, but I can tell you that in days of yore Frost wasn't a poet whom the young litterateur wanted to admit to liking. I remember being in a poetry-writing class and the prof. talking about models for fledgling poets. She named Plath, Sexton, Neruda, Bly, etc. and then said, "Even Robert Frost" with the air of one saying something heretical.

That picture has since changed, I think. Frost was the last truly popular poet we had (well, there was also Rod McKuen, but it's hard to even call him a poet). For years, his popular status tended to make people who were "serious" about literature disregard him. Frost also projected a quite inaccurate picture of himself as a simple country fellow. He was politically conservative as well, never a good thing for literary reputation.

Jay Parini and Jeffrey Meyer wrote well known biographies of Frost. I read Meyer's and some of Parini's, and would recommend Parini as more balanced. Frost was indeed crusty and crotchety, but that can be taken too far.

nova · Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:59 pm

Hey! Glen Campbell sang poetry.

Yes, I am of the age and time when Frost was considered, at least by the people around me, as an establishment poet. He was to poetry, in some peoples minds, what Norman Rockwell was to painting. A hokey White American who the world had passed by.

bleachededen · Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:44 pm

Thanks, DWill and oblivion, I'm definitely blushing. Once I graduated, I found that my knowledge of poetry and literature amounted to pretty much nothing, at least as far as substantial employment, anyway. It's good to find someone who thinks what I know is worth something. So, thank you.

Nova, I understand how you feel about Robert Frost. The poetry I was being shown during my one year attempt at grad school was more contemporary and that was seen as having more merit than older poets, and Frost's notoriety gained him some ill favor in the eyes of the "underground" or "avant garde" poets, whom, I have to admit, I absolutely hated. I do not like being told what to read any more than I like being told what not to read. Frost was old hat to those people, nothing special, nothing new, even though he definitely contributed to those new poets that they loved so dearly. But all poetry is subjective, and what I like you may not and what some other poetry major loves I may find pretentious and despicable (which was one of my main reasons for leaving grad school). Don't ever let anyone make you feel bad for liking something, even if it is something as solid and American as Robert Frost. :lol:

Frost is certainly not without his merits.

oblivion · Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:48 pm

I'm still in a bit of shock. Over here in Germany, I was not aware of the standing of Frost that you all have described. I was assuming he had always been as revered in America as he is here.

bleachededen · Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:21 pm

He is revered, which is exactly why new "up and coming" poets consider him passe (I can't get the accent mark on that last e). New poets like to pretend they don't like the old poets --it's sort of a literary rebellion that I've never quite understood -- because they are exactly what you say, revered. Not liking Robert Frost is their way of being anti-establishment. Sort of like how punks don't like "classic rock," even though their music is influenced by it, whether they acknowledge it or not. It's a vicious cycle of who knows more obscure poets than whom and who knows more pretentious poets than whom, and I refused to be a part of it because I like what I like and I don't care what people think about it. I'm not really a joiner, in case it wasn't obvious. I do what I do and popularity or social status be damned. :-P

DWill · Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:27 pm

I went to grad school, too and I think even at that time (early 80s) Frost was still old guard and unfashionable. W.C. Williams was just as old, but he was considered cool. I remember getting into an argument with a classmate, who held that the Canadian poet A. M. Klein was a better poet than Frost, because Frost was "too simple." I was aghast at this.

I will say that when Frost wrote badly he really went for it. Read his longer poem "Blueberries." Pure Dr. Suess.

Saffron · Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:47 pm


	DWill wrote: I will say that when Frost wrote badly he really went for it. Read his longer poem "Blueberries." Pure Dr. Suess.

Hey, wait just a minute there, buster. I love Dr. Suess and I'd say Mr. Frost's bad poetry doesn't even come close to the wonderful writing of Dr. Suess! :wink:

....and where did your moon go?

Oh, and I also want to say to bleachededen, so glad to have another poetry lover on board.

bleachededen · Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:16 pm

Yay poetry!! :clap2:

giselle · Mon Mar 01, 2010 2:08 am

There are some amusing comments here about the coolness of poets, in particular Robert Frost and, well, Glen Campbell. Back in the day when I cared about cool I would not have admitted to knowing anything about either, although I used to hum along to Rhinestone Cowboy when nobody was about. This is the only Glen Campbell song I remember. If anyone had asked me about Robert Frost I would have pretended he meant Robert Plant and then switched the conversation to how many times I'd skipped English class, contributing, of course, to my lack of appreciation for Frost. Now I can read and enjoy Frost without the slightest concern for cool and I still like Robert Plant ... and Glen Campbell ,, well ..

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