Friday, May 05, 2006

Of Frost and Favourites



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.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-- Robert Frost


Robert Frost was born on March 26 in San Francisco, first child of Isabelle Moodie and William Prescott Frost Jr. Named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

His first published poem, "La Noche Triste," based on episode in Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, appeared in the Lawrence High School Bulletin in April, 1890; a second poem, "The Song of the Wave," appeared in the Bulletin in May, in the same year.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for New Hampshire in May, 1924., A Further Range, 1937, A Winter Tree, 1942.

He passed away on January 29, 1963.