Robert Frost
1874–1963).
The works of U.S. poet Robert Frost tell of simple things—swinging on a birch tree, stopping by woods on a snowy evening, the death of a hired man. Behind them is a deep feeling for life’s fundamentals—love, loyalty, awareness of nature and of God. Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco. His father, a newspaper editor, died when Robert was 11. The boy and his mother went to live with his grandfather in Lawrence, Mass. In high school Frostwas co-valedictorian with Elinor White, whom he married in 1895.
Although Frost sold his first poem in 1894, he was not able to earn a living as a poet until more than 20 years later. He attended Dartmouth College for a few months in 1892, then tried teaching, reporting, and other work. After he married he studied at Harvard University for two years. In 1900 his grandfather gave him a small farm near Derry, N.H. He worked the land unsuccessfully for 11 years, supplementing his income by teaching. The walks that he took on his farm allowed him to discover the beginnings of new poems. From 1912 to 1915 the Frosts lived in England. There were published the two collections that at last brought Frost recognition: A Boy’s Will, published in 1913, and North of Boston (1914).
Honors followed over the years, including Pulitzer prizes in 1924 for New Hampshire (1923), in 1931 for Collected Poems (1930), in 1937 for A Further Range (1936), and in 1943 for A Witness Tree (1942).
The Essay on Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken 3
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Among his other books were Mountain Interval (1916), West-Running Brook (1928), and In the Clearing (1962).
Frost taught or held advisory posts at Amherst and Dartmouth colleges, the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and other schools. He was a cofounder of the Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College in Vermont. In his later years, he earned many more honors and awards. He was the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress—the post now called poet laureate consultant—from 1958 to 1959, and he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960. He was invited to recite his poem The Gift Outright at the inauguration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Frost died in Boston on Jan. 29, 1963.
W.B.Yeats
(1865–1939).
One of Ireland’s finest writers, William Butler Yeats served a long apprenticeship in the arts before his genius was fully developed. He did some of his greatest work after he was 50 years old.
Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865, the eldest son of an artist. Although the family soon moved to London, the children spent much time with their grandparents in County Sligo in northwestern Ireland. The scenery and folklore of this region greatly influenced Yeats’s work. For a while he studied art, but during the 1890s he became active in London’s literary life and helped found the Rhymers’ Club.
Yeats’s early work was not especially Irish. Soon, however, he began to look to the ancient rituals and pagan beliefs of the land for his artistic inspiration. He tried to merge this interest with his aristocratic tastes to create an original Irish poetry and to establish his own identity.
In 1896 Yeats met Lady Gregory, an aristocrat and playwright who shared his interest in Ireland’s past, especially in its folklore. In 1899 they formed a literary society that was the predecessor of the Abbey Theatre. Among his plays were ‘The Countess Cathleen’ (1892) and ‘Cathleen ni Houlihan’ (1902), with Maud Gonne originating the title role. In 1899 he had proposed to her, but she refused to marry him. He later proposed to her daughter, who also refused. A free Ireland was the object of the actress’ passion, and Yeats’s love for her kindled his interest in the country’s political struggles. From 1922 until 1928 he was a senator in the Dáil Éireann, or Irish parliament. (See alsoIreland.)
The Term Paper on William Butler Yeats Ireland Poetry Irish
... and Yeats, along with other Irish writers begins writing not only about Ireland, but his works are also directed toward an Irish audience. When Yeats is ... he is easily misunderstood. His love for Ireland is expressed in his later poetry and plays through demonstrating what society can be rather ...
Believing that poems and plays would create a national unity capable of transforming the country, Yeats devoted himself to literature and drama. In his work for the Abbey, which opened in 1904, he persuaded John MillingtonSynge to return to Irish folklore for subject material, and Synge wrote some of the finest Irish plays ever produced. Yeats, Synge, and Lady Gregory were among the leaders of the Irish literary revival. In 1923 Yeats was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. (See also Irish Literature.)
Occultism played a significant role in Yeats’s life. He was a member of the Theosophical Society and was impressed with the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, William Blake, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Charles Baudelaire. In 1917 he married Georgie Hyde-Lees, who was thought to be a medium.
As time passed, Yeats’s poetry became more polished and profound. ‘TheTower’ and ‘The Winding Stair’ were his last great poetic works. In his last years he lived on the Irish coast in an old tower that served as a symbol in much of his later poetry. In a prose work called ‘A Vision’, Yeats set forth his theories of history and of human personality. Always controversial, Yeatscaused much discussion with his edition of ‘The Oxford Book of Modern Verse’, published in 1936. Some critics thought the selections in the anthology were too individualized, reflecting Yeats’s own interests and attitudes.
Yeats died on Jan. 28, 1939, in Roquebrune, France. His body remained buried there throughout World War II, but in 1948 it was brought back to Ireland for burial in County Sligo. In a poem composed in his memory, W.H. Auden wrote, “Earth, receive an honored guest; William Yeats is laid to rest.”
