Donna's Designs: Robert Frost's Home

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Robert Frost's Home

A few years ago my husband and I had the pleasure of visiting the home of American poet, Robert Frost, in South Shaftsbury, Vermont, where he penned "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and published two books of poems during the 1920's.

The grounds evoke many Frost images, such as fields, stone walls, birch trees and an English barn circa 1850. It was here that Frost came to plant a new Garden of Eden with a thousand apple trees. As a poet of natural beauty, wonder, and the understated, he was an all-time master. He lived in this home with his wife and four children.

Inside his home the exhibits featuring Frost's life and poetry make you feel as if you met him.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

by Robert Frost

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.

Recently, we were able to locate Frost's grave in Old Bennington, Vermont, near the Bennington Battle Monument.

One may think he was buried in a mausoleum, but as you can see a simple stone bears his name.

His silent grave in the church yard of Old First Parish is now a place of pilgrimage for Americans who have been touched by his art - among them, me.

Do you like to walk through old graveyards? I've always had a fondness for them since I was a little girl. Our family even lived next to one and I use to wonder about the mysteries within.

The headstones, dried out floral arrangements, the wrought iron ... each piece means something.