Biography
Robert Frost (1874–1963) was one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century and is often regarded as the unofficial national poet of the United States. He was born in San Francisco, the son of a poor family, and experienced a difficult childhood and adolescence, especially after the death of his father in 1885. With his mother, sister, and only eight dollars to their name, he moved to eastern Massachusetts. Frost attended Dartmouth College for a single semester and later worked at various jobs, including delivering newspapers and factory work, to help support his family. In 1894, he sold his first poem to *The Independent* for fifteen dollars, and the following year he married his high school sweetheart. He attended Harvard University for two years, but financial difficulties and the arrival of his second child forced him to leave before graduating.His grandfather bought the young couple a farm in New Hampshire, where Frost spent nine years writing many of his early poems while unsuccessfully attempting to make a living raising poultry. In 1912, the family sailed to England, first arriving in Glasgow and later settling near London. His first poetry collection was published the following year. During his years in England, he became acquainted with important literary figures and wrote some of his finest poetry.
Frost returned to the United States in 1915, purchased another farm in New Hampshire, and continued writing while teaching. From 1916 to 1938, he served as a professor at Amherst College. Although he never earned a university degree, he received more than forty honorary doctorates from American universities and was later appointed Professor of Poetry at Harvard University. He won the Pulitzer Prize four times, a distinction unmatched by any other poet.
Despite his public success, Frost's personal life was marked by tragedy. After the loss of his father, his mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, he was forced to commit his sister to a psychiatric hospital, where she died nine years later. Of his six children, one daughter died three days after birth, a son died of cholera, and another daughter died from complications following childbirth. His wife died of heart failure in 1938. Frost himself lived until 1963, continuing to write and teach almost until the end of his life.