The Life of Robert Frost

BLACKWELL CRITICAL BIOGRAPHIES "The life and work of Frost are endlessly compelling, and Henry Hart has done a splendid job here of bringing these strands together. It's a seamless narrative, beautifully told by a master biographer and poet-critic. Hart's portrait brings a great deal of new material into view, and Frost becomes only more human, only more impressive in his rendering. I really admire this book, which sees Frost steadily and whole." Jay Parini, author of Robert Frost: A Life Henry Hart's The Life of Robert Frost goes beyond current biographies to present a unique and rich approach to the poet, revealing new details about his life and background. This illuminating new biography includes original genealogical research concerning Frost's ancestors in New England, England, and Scotland. Hart also includes new information about Robert Frost's father, who died from consumption when Frost was eleven. Past biographies have tended to discount the traumatic effect of his father's death, but Hart reveals how the death haunted both Frost and his sister (Jeanie), who died in a mental hospital, demonstrating how mental illness - especially depression and schizophrenia - plagued the Frost family and heavily influenced Frost's state of mind and, as a result, his poetry. Hart places great emphasis throughout the biography on Frost's turbulent marriage and family life, revealing how they provided important inspiration and material for his poems. Since Frost periodically described himself as "a mystic," there is also essential discussion on the effect of his mother's Swedenborgian mysticism - and mysticism in general - on Frost's writing. The result is a fascinating portrayal of a brilliant poet who persevered through repeated family tragedies to eventually achieve iconic status around the world.