the road not taken pauta 7

8/6/2019 The Road Not Taken Pauta 7

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According to poet Robert Frost, a good poem ³begins in delight,and ends in wisdom.´ Frost is one of the most popular

American poets of the twentieth century.

He used both traditional and modern forms in his poems, whichperhaps accounts for the wide appeal of his writing.Throughout more than fifty years of outstandingachievements, Frost received numerous awards and honors,

including four Pulitzer Prizes for Literature.

A Rich Heritage Robert Frost was born in San Francisco,where his father was establishing a career in journalism.When Frost was eleven years old, his father died, and his

mother moved the family back to New England, where Frostwould spend much of his adult life. From his boyhood untilhis later years, Frost enjoyed long walks in the woods, apractice that fed his curiosity about the natural world. Notsurprisingly, references to nature and New England settingsand speech patterns abound in Frost¶s poetry.



³[T]he ear does it. The ear is the only

true writer and the only true reader.´

²Robert Frost

Frost began writing poetry while in high school, a passion heshared with his co-valedictorian and future wife, Elinor Miriam White. After spending a year at college and marryingElinor, Frost went to work as a teacher. He also worked as afactory laborer, a newspaper editor, and a lecturer at Amherst College and several other universities throughouthis life.

A New England Poet In 1900 Frost and his family moved to afarm in Derry, New Hampshire. While Frost was ultimatelyunsuccessful as a farmer, he did write many of the poemsduring those years that would make up his first books. A Boy¶s Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914) were publishedby a London publishing house while Frost and his familywere living in England. While in England, Frost wrote ³The

Road Not Taken,´ which would appear as the first selectionin his third book of oems Mountain Interval 1916 .



Frost¶s first three books of poetry were well received by both

critics and the public. His fourth book, New Hampshire, wona Pulitzer Prize in 1924. As a successful poet, Frost spentmuch of his time reading his poems to audiences around thecountry. He developed the speaking style, appearance, andmannerisms associated with New England, which made him

even more appealing to the public.

Frost¶s middle years were plagued by tragedy. Between 1934and 1940, he lost his daughter Marjorie; his wife, Elinor; andhis son Carol. In 1942 he published a book of poems titled

A Witness Tree, which explored the themes ofloss and sorrow.

Robert Frost was born in 1874 and died in 1963.



Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I²

I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

the road not taken pauta 7

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