Through a poet's eye...sensitively (and beautifully) written...engaging...a delight!
This biography offers a major reassessment of the life and work of America's premier poet--the only truly "National Poet" the U.S. has, so far, produced.
Author Jay Parini began working on this biography in 1975, through interviews with friends and associates of Frost's and working in the poet's archives at Dartmouth, Amherst and elsewhere.
In prose that is both elegant and simple, Parini traces the stages of Frost's colorful life: his boyhood in San Francisco (no, he was not a native New Englander!), his young manhood in New England, his college days at Dartmouth and later at Harvard, his years of farming in New Hampshire, his three-year stay in England where he became friends with people such as Ezra Pound, Edward Thomas and other important figures of modern poetry.
Following Frost's meteoric rise upon his return to America from England in 1915, Parini traces the path Frost took from poet to cultural icon, a friend and intimate of presidents, a sage whose pronouncements attracted the attention of the world press.
Yet, the beauty of this book lies in the fact that Parini never loses sight of Frost at his deepest and most human, the man behind the gorgeous and sensitive poetry that enraptured a nation. Always managing to take us back to the poetry and Frost's roots, Parini, in this beautiful book, offers a sensitive roadmap of both Frost, the man and his incredible talent.
I remember thinking the image of this short, stocky white-haired old man was as close to a wood nymph as I would ever come. Later, I was to learn that Frost lead anything but a simple life. Biographer drawing on this image, often sensationalized the details of his life at the expense of the precious poetry he created.
Jay Parini, the Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College, does not travel that path. Rather, he provides his readers with insight into how Frost lived day-to-day, poem to poem. He animates Frost's daily struggles with depression, anxiety, self-doubt and confusion. The poet's family life was not happy; he experienced bad luck with his children. Yet, he exhibited tremendous force of will, love for his children and dedication to creating a lasting body of creative work.
Unlike Frost previous biographers, Parini skillfully weaves the details of the poet's life with poetry he created. Frost's desire to "lodge a few poems where they can't be gotten rid of easily" is woven into a picture of an artist attempting to rescue his sanity by creating what he called a "momentary stay against confusion."
For me, reading Frost's poetry is a labor of love; reading Parini's biography is like reliving a best friend's life. This biographical study offers an unusual glimpse into the life, poetry and times of Robert Frost, a man who ranks as one of the world's greatest poets.