Robert Frost
American poet and literary translator, foremost poet of the World War II generation.
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet celebrated for his realistic portrayals of rural life and his masterful use of American colloquial speech. Though he grew up in a city, Frost is indelibly associated with the New England countryside of the early twentieth century, which he employed as a setting to explore complex social and philosophical themes. He is the only poet to have received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, and he became one of America’s rare “public literary figures, almost an artistic institution.” His national honors included appointment as United States Poet Laureate in 1958, the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960, and the poet laureateship of Vermont in 1961.
Critic Randall Jarrell ranked Frost alongside Wallace Stevens and T. S. Eliot as one of the greatest American poets of the century, praising his extraordinary ability to write about the actions of ordinary men through dramatic monologues and scenes rooted in a deep knowledge of people, all rendered in verse that masterfully employs the rhythms of actual speech. Frost himself articulated his poetics in his 1939 essay “The Figure a Poem Makes,” asserting that poetry must be a revelation for both poet and reader, arising from the surprise of remembering something previously unknown.
Born in San Francisco to a journalist father and a Scottish immigrant mother, Frost moved with his family to Lawrence, Massachusetts, after his father’s death. He graduated from Lawrence High School as class poet and co-valedictorian, attended Dartmouth College briefly, and later left Harvard University due to illness. After working a farm in Derry, New Hampshire, for nine years—writing early mornings and producing many of his famous poems—he turned to teaching English. In 1912, he moved his family to England, where his first two books, *A Boy’s Will* and *North of Boston*, were published. Returning to America in 1915, he bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, and launched a career of writing, teaching, and lecturing.
- born
- March 1, 1921
- died
- October 14, 2017
- field
- Poetry
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Poet and literary translator, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice (1957, 1989), U.S.
Lore & Background
Wilbur was born in New York City on March 1, 1921, and grew up in North Caldwell, New Jersey. In 1938 he graduated from Montclair High School, where he worked on the school newspaper. At Amherst College, he also displayed his 'ample literary gifts' as one of the 'sharpest' reporters for the college newspaper, edited by upperclassman Robert Morgenthau. After graduation in 1942, he served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. He attended graduate school at Harvard University. Wilbur taught at Wellesley College, then Wesleyan University for two decades and at Smith College for another decade. At Wesleyan he was instrumental in founding the award-winning poetry series of the Wesleyan University Press. He received two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and taught at Amherst College as late as 2009, where he also served on the editorial board of the literary magazine The Common. When only eight years old, Wilbur published his first poem in John Martin's Magazine. His first book, The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems, appeared in 1947. Thereafter he published several volumes of poetry, including New and Collected Poems (Faber, 1989). Wilbur was also a translator, specializing in the 17th century French comedies of Molière and dramas of Jean Racine. His translation of Tartuffe has become the play's standard English version and has been presented on television twice (a 1978 production is available on DVD). Wilbur also published several children's books, including Opposites, More Opposites, and The Disappearing Alphabet. In 1959 he became the general editor of The Laurel Poetry Series (Dell Publishing). He provided lyrics to several songs in Leonard Bernstein's 1956 musical Candide, including the famous 'Glitter and Be Gay' and 'Make Our Garden Grow'. He also produced several unpublished works, including 'The Wing' and 'To Beatrice'. Wilbur died on October 14, 2017, at a nursing home in Belmont, Massachusetts, from natural causes aged 96.
Reader's Guide
Wilbur's honors included the 1983 Drama Desk Special Award and the PEN Translation Prize for his translation of The Misanthrope, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the National Book Award for Things of This World (1956), the Edna St Vincent Millay award, the Bollingen Prize, and the Chevalier, Ordre des Palmes Académiques. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1959. In 1987 Wilbur became the second poet, after Robert Penn Warren, to be named U.S. Poet Laureate after the position's title was changed from Poetry Consultant. In 1988 he won the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry and in 1989 he won a second Pulitzer, for his New and Collected Poems. On October 14, 1994, he received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. He also received the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation in 1994. In 2003 Wilbur was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2006 he won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. In 2010 he won the National Translation Award for the translation of The Theatre of Illusion by Pierre Corneille. In 2012 Yale University conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters on Wilbur. He had a literary correspondence with Catholic nun, literary critic and poet M. Bernetta Quinn. Continuing the tradition of Robert Frost and W. H. Auden, Wilbur's poetry finds illumination in everyday experiences.
Did You Know?
- Wilbur published his first poem at age eight in John Martin's Magazine.
- He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein as lyricist for the 1956 musical Candide, writing 'Glitter and Be Gay' and 'Make Our Garden Grow'.
- His translation of Molière's Tartuffe has become the play's standard English version and was televised twice.
- Wilbur was appointed the second U.S. Poet Laureate in 1987 after the title was changed from Poetry Consultant.
- He received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton on October 14, 1994.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Robert Frost?
Robert Frost (1874–1963) was an American poet born in San Francisco who became one of the most widely recognized literary voices in the country. He is best remembered for weaving the cadence of everyday rural speech into poems that quietly probe loneliness, choice, and mortality.
What makes Robert Frost's poetry distinctive?
Frost grounded his work in the concrete details of early-20th-century New England farm life—snow, woods, stone walls—yet used those settings to examine broader social and philosophical questions. His command of natural American colloquial speech set him apart from the more formal verse of his era.
How many Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry did Robert Frost win?
Frost received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times, a record no other poet has equaled. That streak cemented his status as what critics called an almost institutional figure in American letters.
What recurring themes appear in Robert Frost's work?
Isolation, the weight of small decisions, and the pull between human community and the wild natural world run through much of his canon. A quiet walk through a birch grove or a fence line often becomes a lens for larger questions about purpose and connection.
When and where did Robert Frost die?
Frost died in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 29, 1963, at the age of 88. By the time of his passing he had already been widely regarded as a defining pillar of American poetry.
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