Robert Lee Frost (26 March 1874 – 29 January 1963) was
an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural
life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently
employed settings from rural life in
Frost was 86 when he spoke and performed a reading of
his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on 20 January 1961.
Robert Frost with Jackie Kennedy at the time of the
inauguration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnWU29o2xwA&NR=1
The Road not
Taken
Two roads
diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I
could not travel both
And be one
traveler, long I stood
And looked
down one as far as I could
To where it
bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the
other, as just as fair,
And having
perhaps the better claim,
Because it
was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for
that the passing there
Had worn them
really about the same,
And both that
morning equally lay
In leaves no
step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept
the first for another day!
Yet knowing
how way leads on to way,
I doubted if
I should ever come back.
I shall be
telling this with a sigh
Somewhere
ages and ages hence:
Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the
one less traveled by,
And that has
made all the difference.
1916
And here is Frost’s own favourite: Whose woods these are I think I know
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
http://www.adamsmithacademy.org/etext/StoppingByWoodsOnASnowyEvening.html
