Robert Frost is one of the most popular American poets of all time. His highly accessible work made him famous in his lifetime and has since solidified his place in American literary history. Read more about Robert Frost.
Some of Frost’s most famous poems include Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Nothing Gold Can Stay, Mending Wall, The Road Not Taken, and Fire and Ice.
Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ is about the choices and opportunities in life. The poem highlights the sensation of regret that accompanies all the roads that a person doesn’t take.
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 couwld
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Robert Frost, aka ‘nature boy,’ penned this lovely poem, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ in 1922, subsequently published with his long poem, ‘New Hampshire’.
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.
‘Birches’ is one of the most famous, admired, and thoughtful Robert Frost poems. The poem profoundly describes something simple, an ordinary incident, in elevated terms.
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay
‘The Freedom of the Moon’ by Robert Frost is a poem about humanity’s freedom. It uses beautiful figurative language to define the human experience.
I've tried the new moon tilted in the air
Above a hazy tree-and-farmhouse cluster
As you might try a jewel in your hair.
I've tried it fine with little breadth of luster,
‘To Earthward’ by Robert Frost contemplates the speaker’s connection to the earth. As he’s aged, he’s sought out more painful experiences in order to feel the same as he did in his youth.
Love at the lips was touch
As sweet as I could bear;
And once that seemed too much;
I lived on air
‘A Time to Talk’ by Robert Frost is a poem abut the importance of friendship. Nothing should get in the way of greeting a friend one truly cares about.
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
‘Mending Wall’ by Robert Frost explores the nature of human relationships. The speaker suggests there are two types of people, those who want walls and those who don’t.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
‘Desert Places’ by Robert Frost is a dark poem that uses a snowstorm to depict universal human loneliness and the inevitable return of depression.
Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.
‘Tree At My Window’ by Robert Frost celebrates the speaker’s love for nature. He focuses in on one specific tree outside his window that’s meant a lot to him.
Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.
‘The Wood-Pile’ by Robert Frost is a beautiful, image-rich poem. It details a speaker’s journey through the woods and his discovery of a woodpile.
Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day,
I paused and said, 'I will turn back from here.
No, I will go on farther—and we shall see.'
‘Gathering Leaves’ is a profound poem that delves into the themes of man versus nature, productivity, and change.
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
‘Come In’ by Robert Frost is a poem that takes a look at how we as people project ourselves onto nature.
As I came to the edge of the woods,
Thrush music — hark!
Now if it was dusk outside,
Inside it was dark.
‘A Late Walk’ by Robert Frost references the idea that sometimes it really is too late in the year to walk around outside. There, one will find dying plants, hibernating animals, and an unavoidable cold.
When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.
‘A Line-storm Song’ by Robert Frost is an image-rich poem that depicts love. The speaker engages with its ups and downs while encouraging his lover to do the same.
The line-storm clouds fly tattered and swift,
The road is forlorn all day,
Where a myriad snowy quartz stones lift,
And the hoof-prints vanish away.
‘A Prayer in Spring’ by Robert Frost is a poem that asks for peace in the face of a busy, endlessly stressful world. The speaker is looking for peace for himself and those around him.
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Frost’s ‘A Question’ is a powerfully emotional poem. In it, the poet paints a picture of suffering, pointing to the fact that life itself is filled with scars of the soul and body.
A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
‘Acquainted with the Night’ by Robert Frost is a personal poem that deals with themes of depression. It’s told, perhaps, from the poet’s own perspective.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
‘After Apple-Picking’ by Robert Frost begins with an apple-picker’s thoughts after a day of work. The poem goes on to explore themes of life and death.
My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
‘An Old Man’s Winter Night’ by Robert Frost is a thoughtful poem about an old man’s solitary life. The speaker explores the aging process and presents winter darkness as a comfort rather than a fear.
All out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze
‘Bereft’ by Robert Frost is a beautiful poem that exemplifies a speaker’s loneliness. He uses natural imagery to depict the changes in his life and how he feels about the world.
Where had I heard this wind before
Change like this to a deeper roar?
What would it take my standing there for,
Holding open a restive door,
‘Blue-Butterfly Day’ by Robert Frost beautifully describes the movements of a flock of butterflies. He uses them as a way of describing the cycle of life and death.
It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,
And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry
There is more unmixed color on the wing
‘Carpe Diem’ by Robert Frost is a poem that encourages the reader to live in the present and comments on people’s tendency to focus on the past and the future instead.
Age saw two quiet children
Go loving by at twilight,
He knew not whether homeward,
Or outward from the village,
Robert Forst depicts two different types of men in ‘Christmas Trees,’ one who wants to buy Christmas trees and the other who debates selling them.
The city had withdrawn into itself
And left at last the country to the country;
When between whirls of snow not come to lie
And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
‘Departmental’ by Robert Frost is a clever poem that presents a satire of ant society. It suggests that the control and compartmentalization in the ant world would not work, or should not work, in human society.
An ant on the tablecloth
Ran into a dormant moth
Of many times his size.
He showed not the least surprise.
‘Design’ is one of Robert Frost’s more contentious poems. It was written as a response to the traditional depiction of God as a benevolent, all-powerful being who created humankind in his own image.
I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth--
Assorted characters of death and blight
‘Directive’ by Robert Frost is about the relationship between the past and the present. It is a very well regarded poem that has been described as “dismaying” and “gratifying.”
Back out of all this now too much for us,
Back in a time made simple by the loss
Of detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off
Like graveyard marble sculpture in the weather,
‘Dust of Snow’ by Robert Frost is a simple tale of how a speaker’s mood was changed by a snowfall. A love of nature is enough to elevate the speaker into a happier state of mind.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost explores a universal interest in the apocalypse. It has always been a phenomenon capable of capturing people’s minds.
Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
Lovers of Robert Frost’s poems will find ‘Flower-Gathering’ a thoughtful and comforting addition to his “walking” poems.
I left you in the morning,
And in the morning glow,
You walked a way beside me
To make me sad to go.
‘For Once, Then, Something’ by Robert Frost focuses on the elusive nature of truth. Frost presents readers with the story of a man who finds himself looking through a well from the wrong side.
Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Gives me back in a shining surface picture
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