Wayne Reads features lecture about poet Frost
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 27, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Dr. Elliott Engel of Raleigh spoke on the life and works of poet Robert Frost Tuesday during the Wayne County Reads program hosted by the University of Mount Olive.
MOUNT OLIVE -- Perhaps no poet has ever been better at crafting imagery of a cold, snowy New England winter than Robert Frost.
The irony is that not only was Frost not a native of New England -- he was born in San Francisco -- he initially hated the region when his recently widowed mother moved back there to live with her parents. It wasn't until his first New England snow that hate turned into love.
Adding to that irony is that what is probably his most famous poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was written not during a harsh New England winter, but rather during a heat wave while Frost was living in Michigan.
And his first volume of poetry about his beloved New England was published while a homesick Frost was living in England.
Frost's journey was brought to life Tuesday night by author, lecturer and scholar Dr. Elliott Engel of Raleigh during Wayne County Reads hosted by the University of Mount Olive.
Nearly 70 people gathered at Southern Bank Auditorium for Engel's lively and entertaining retrospective on Frost's life.
The final program for Wayne County Reads is May 1 from 1 to 5 p.m. with a Sunday in the Park at Herman Park that will feature a "Passionate for Poetry Festival," with music and dance performances, a poetry contest and children's activities.
Delivered more in the style of a storyteller than a lecturer, Engel said that Frost's path to fame is so improbable that it reads like a book itself.
Frost (March 26, 1874 - January 29, 1963) was named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee under whom his father had served for a brief time during the Civil War, Engel said.
Frost's father, who was a native of New England, died when Frost was 11, probably from alcohol poisoning.
"His poetry career actually probably took bud when he was a very, very young boy because it turns out the Frost's mother wanted to teach her children Biblical moral lessons by telling stories that she would make up for Robert and the sister," Engel said. "The stories that she made up that Robert always remembered always had contrasting images that connected the story.
"For example, she would either tell them stories about good versus evil, or light versus darkness, or order versus chaos. Her stories would be filled with contrasting images. I mention this because there is no poet who has ever written in English who has based more poems on opposite imagery than Robert Frost. He gets this from his mother. He wrote 81 different poems where contrasting opposite images are the most powerful thing in the poem."
In his younger years, Frost wanted to be a professional baseball player, Engel said. What sparked his interest in poetry was when he met Elinor Miriam White, who would eventually become his wife. They were in high school at the time.
While struggling to make it as poet, Frost tried his hand at teaching on the high school and collegiate level. The only problem was that he didn't like students or teaching, Engel said
But his wife told him the family needed more money and that he should go back to teaching.
At the time they were living not far from Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., where Frost went in attempt to get on the faculty even thought he lacked the necessary degrees and couldn't stand college students, but he needed the job Engel said.
Instead he convinced the dean to hire him as poet in residence -- a concept Frost invented because he is too lazy to teach, Engel said.
It was his job to bring well-known poets to the university.
Frost was not a "warm and fuzzy" kind of man and struggled with bouts of depression throughout his life. He was jealous when the speakers receive more attention than he did, Engel said.
He was later hired away by the University of Michigan where during one such session Frost sat in the back of the auditorium reading a newspaper, making a lot of noise when he turned the pages. When that didn't work, he set the paper on fire, Engel said.
It was while in Michigan that he penned "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" during a heat wave.
The final stanza is probably the most famous in American poetry, Engel said, and like most of Frost's poems, it has the opposite contrasting images.
"It is the single most famous poem by Robert Frost," he said. "This is a poem about going on or just killing yourself and getting it over with. The woods aren't the woods, they are death. He is saying, 'I am tired and it would be so easy to stay in the lovely dark deep woods and not have to think about what makes us human and all of our problems and just stay there, have the snow pile up and be dead.'
"The second line is, 'No I am not committing suicide. I am going to keep on going because I have a family. I have obligations.' Where he is going to come down."
The third line, "And miles to go before I sleep," should be telling the reader that the poet is not going to die but face live and go on, Engel said.
"Had he ended it there, it would have come down on that side," Engel said.
But Frost brilliantly repeats the line so the reader has no idea of what the outcome is, Engel said. It is a poem about going on or just giving in, Engel said.
"I think one of the sweetest things he ever said was this, 'All I wanted to do was write a few poems that would be hard to get rid of,'" Engel said. "Well, if that's what Frost wanted to do, I can't think of a poet who has achieved more."
For more information about Wayne County Reads, visit www.wcpl.org.