Give a brief Life-Sketch of ROBERT FROST.

Ans.

ROBERT FROST (1874-1963)

His Birth and Parentage

Robert Frost is a great American poet. He was born on March 26, 1874 in the famous city of Sane Francisco in California. His father used to live in New England, a state in the U.S.A. The people who lived in such states were popularly known as ‘Yankees’. His mother’s name was Isabelle Moodie who had come to America from the great city of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. Thus, she was a Scot who had shifted to America. She herself was a poetess and took much interest in composing poetry. She was much impressed by Robert Burns, so she named her son as Robert after him. His father wanted to name his son after the great General Lee, so the young boy was named as Robert Lee. Later he became popular as Robert Lee Frost as his improved name. His father died in 1885 of tuberculosis when Robert was only eleven years old. His last remains were buried in New England by Robert and his mother. After this they settled in Salem, New Hampshire.

His Education

After the death of Robert’s father, the family fell on hard days. His mother started to earn some money for the living of the family. For this she took the job of a teacher for some years in the Grammar School of the village, Salem. Her own children also started to receive their education in the same village school. At first, Robert did not take much interest in his study but after a short time he was shifted to the Lawrence High School where he showed deep interest in his study. He stayed in that school for a period of four years.

Robert Frost was regarded as a great and famous poet as well as a distinguished man-of-letters, so he was awarded honorary degrees by a large number of colleges and universities. He was also awarded honorary degrees by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It was in the year 1961 when he was invited to sing his patriotic poem with the title The Gift Outright when President John F. Kennedy had assumed his office. He died in the month of January, 1963.

As a Great American Poet

Today Robert Frost is regarded as the great American poet. His poetry is also remembered much by the people of India because it is highly interesting. A large number of men and women take inspiration from his poetry. The first Prime Minister of free India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru used to regard the poetry of Robert Frost as very significant in his life. After the death of Nehru on May 27, 1964 the following lines from his famous poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening were found written on a piece of paper on the study table in Nehru’s office. In this way, the greatest man of India remembered these lines to work day and night for the welfare of his country as well as for his countrymen. Its reason is that he was a true patriot.