Chronology of Robert Frost
compiled by Robert Crifasi, Millikin University
1874 Robert Lee Frost born on March 26 in San Francisco, California,
named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
1879 Enters kindergarten for one day. He suffers from a severe nervous
stomach pain and does not return.
1880 Frost enters first grade in the public school. He drops out
when the nervous stomach pain returns. Educated by mother.
1881 Frost enters second grade in the public school.
1882 Drops out of school in February when nervous pain in stomach
returns and continues education at home.
1886 Moves to Salem Depot, New Hampshire. Frost enters the fifth
grade .
1888 Frost Passes entrance examinations for Lawrence High School
in June.
1889 Finishes school year at the head of the class.
1890 First published poem, "La Noche Triste," appears in the Lawrence
High School Bulletin in April; a second poem, "The Song of the Wave,"
appears in the May Bulletin. Again Frost finishes school
year at the head of his class.
1891 Passes preliminary entrance examinations tor Harvard College.
Elected chief editor of the Bulletin.. Publishes poem "A Dream of Julius
Casar" in
May Bulletin.. Maintains position as head of his class.
1892 Enters Dartmouth College instead of Harvard because it is cheaper,
Leaves Dartmouth at end of December.
1894 Begins teaching grades one through six in Salem. Learns in
March that The Independent will publish his poem "My Butterfly: An Elergy."
Has local printer prepare two copies of Twilight. Goes to St. Lawrence
University to present his love Elinor with a copy, but gets a cool reception;
destroys his own copy and returns home. Still distraught, decides to go
to the Dismal Swamp on the Virginia-North Carolina border.
1895 Works as reporter for the Lawrence Daily American and Sentinel..
Marries Elinor White in December .
1896 Son Elliott is born.
1897 Publishes poem "Greece" in the Boston Evening Transcript. Passes
Harvard College entrance examinations. Moves into a single room in Cambridge.
Later joined by Elinor, Elliott, and his mother-in-law.
1898 Awarded Sewall Scholarship for academic excellence. Spends
summer in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Returns to Harvard in the fall; Elinor,
who is
again pregnant, remains in Lawrence. Returns to Lawrence
once a week to see Elinor and teach evening classes at his mother's school.
1899 Withdraws from Harvard on March 31. Daughter Lesley is born
on April 28.
1900 Son Elliott dies of cholera.
1901 Frost's grandfather, William Prescott Frost dies. Leaves Frost
a will.
1902 Son Carol is born.
1903 Daughter Irma is born.
1905 Daughter Marjorie is born.
1906 Secures part-time position teaching English literature at
Pinkerton Academy in Derry. Publishes poem "The Tuft of Flowers" in the
Derry Enterprise.
Assumes full-time teaching post at Pinkerton Academy.
1907 Writes poem "The Later Minstrel" for the Pinkerton celebration
of the 100th anniversary of Longfellow's birth.
Daughter Elinor Bettina is born on June 18 and dies on
June 21.
1909 Poem "Into Mine Own" appears in New England Magazine.
1910 Revises English curriculum for the Pinkerton Academy and develops
program emphasizing an informal, conversational teaching style.
1911 Accepts offer to teach at State Normal School.
1912 Decides to live in England for a few years and devote himself
to writing full time. Prepares manuscript of A Boy's Will and
submits it to London firm of David Nutt and Company, which
accepts it for publication.
1913 Meets Ezra Pound. "A Boy's Will" is published in April and
is favorably reviewed.
1914 "North of Boston" is published. Learns that New York publishing
firm of Henry Holt and Company will publish his books in the United States.
Returns to the states.
1915 Addresses Boston Authors' Club in May and reads poems "Birches,"
"The Road Not Taken," and "The Sound of Trees" at Tufts College.
Elinor suffers a miscarriage.
1916 Elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Accepts
offer to teach at Amherst College.
1918 Awarded honorary M.A. degree by Amherst College.
1920 Resigns position at Amherst College in February.
1921 Accepts a one-year fellowship at the University of Michigan,
moves to Ann Arbor.
1922 Awarded honorary M.A. by the University of Michigan. Named
Poet Laureate of Vermont by the state League of Women's Clubs.
1923 Awarded honorary LHD by the University of Vermont. Accepts
appointment as professor of English at Amherst College.
1924 Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for New Hampshire. Receives Honorary
Litt.D. degrees from Middlebury College and Yale University.
1926 Awarded honorary Litt. D. by Bowdoin College.
1928 West-Running Brook published in November.
1930 Collected Poems published. Elected membership in the American
Academy of Arts and Letters.
1931 Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Collected Poems. Receives Russell
Loines Poetry Prize from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1936 A Further Range published
1937 Wins Pulitzer Prize for A Further Range. Elected to membership
in the American Philosophical Society.
1938 Elinor dies of heart failure. Frost collapses and is unable
to attend cremation. Elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers. Asks Kathleen
Morrison to marry him; she refuses. Frost is delighted
when Kathleen Morrison agrees to work for him as a paid secretary.
1939 Awarded the Gold Medal by the National Institute of Arts and
Letters. "The Figure a Poem Makes," published.Accepts two-year appointmcnt
at Harvard.
1940 Son, Carol, commits suicide.
1942 A Witness Tree, dedicated to Kathleen Morrison "for her part
in it," is published, sales reach 10,000 copies within two months.
1943 Awarded Pulitzer Prize for A Witness Tree in May, becoming
the first person to receive the Prize four times. Accepts appointment at
Dartmouth College.
1945 A Masque of Reason is published.
1946 Modern Library publishes an edition of Collected Poems with
recently written preface, "The Constant Symbol."
1947 Receive his 17th honorary degree. Steeple Bush is published.
A Masque of Mercy is published.
1949 Complete Poems of Robert Frost published.
1950 U.S. Senate adopts resolution honoring Frost on his 75th birthday.
1953 Awarded the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets.
1954 Aforesaid published
1957 Awarded honorary Litt.D. degrees by Oxford and Cambridge,
becoming only the third American to receive honors from both universities
in the same year
1958 Appointed in May to be Consultant in Poetry to the Library
of Congress. Receives Emerson-Thoreau Medal of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences.
1959 Appointed to three year term as Honorary Consultant in the
Humanities at the Library of Congress.
1960 Testifies before Senate subcommittee in favor of a bill toestablish
a National Academy of Culture. Congress passes bill awarding Frost a gold
medal.
1961 Writes new poem for Kennedy Inauguration.Vermont legislature
names Frost "Poet Laureate of Vermont."
1962 In the Clearing is published
1963 Awarded the Bollingen Prize for Poetry. Dies on January 29.
Secondary Sources
Harris, Kathryn Gibbs. Robert Frost: Studies of the Poetry. Boston,
Mass.: G.K. Hall, 1979.
Marcus, Mordecai. The Poems of Robert Frost : An Explication.
Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall, 1991.
Potter, James L.. Robert Frost Handbook. University Park: The
Pennsylvannia State University Press, 1980.
Internet Resources
http://www.libarts.sfasu.edu/Frost/Frost.html
Frost in Cyberspace
http://www.pro-net.co.uk/home/catalyst/RF/rfcover.html
Robert Frost Poetry Page
http://www.poets.org/lit/poet/rfrosfst.htm
Robert Frost Biography
http://www.pro-net.co.uk/home/catalyst/RF/inter.html
Selected Interviews with Robert Frost
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/frost/home.html
A Frost Bouquet
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/frost.html
Frost's Major Works