5 Facts You Might Not Know About Robert Frost

Robert Frost is arguably one of the most famous poets of all time, but how much do you really know about him? Jodie Hollander who is running ‘The Road Not Taken’: Reading & Writing Robert Frost with us this Autumn gives us some interesting facts about the American poet.

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1. He was surrounded by tragedy

Robert Frost suffered immense personal grief and tragedy throughout his life. His father died of tuberculosis when he was only 11, and his mother died of cancer when he was a young man. Of his six children, Frost outlived four of them. One son died of cholera in childhood, a daughter died just days after birth, another daughter died of heart failure and fever complications, and his adult son, Carol, died by suicide.

2. The UK loved him

Robert Frost first gained recognition in the UK. He moved to England with his family in 1912 at the age of 38 to focus on his writing after failing to gain recognition in the United States. His debut poetry collection, A Boy’s Will, was published in London in April 1913, followed by North of Boston in 1914. British critics warmly received his work, establishing his reputation as a major new poetic talent before news of his success reached America.

3. He was President Kennedy’s inaugural poet

Robert Frost was invited to be part of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration on January 20, 1961, becoming the first poet to take part in a presidential inaugural ceremony. He wrote a poem for the event titled ‘Dedication.’ However, the glare that day made it impossible for him at the age of 86 to read his typed pages. Instead, Frost recited his poem ‘The Gift Outright,’ entirely from memory. 

4. He had a two rhythm system

Frost believed good poetry existed within the tension between two rhythms: the strict, mechanical beat of the meter, and the unpredictable cadence of speaking. The magic of a poem happens when the natural voice pushes against the rigid meter. This is often referred to as “the sound of sense.”

5. His most famous poem is his most misunderstood

‘The Road Not Taken‘ is considered one of the most misunderstood poems in American literature. While it is commonly read at graduations and featured as a poem touting individualism, nonconformity, and choosing a unique path, the poem actually implies the contrary.

If you are interested in investigating Frost more deeply and learning from one of the true masters, Jodie is teaching her course ‘The Road Not Taken’: Reading & Writing Robert Frost with us this Autumn, starting on Thursday 22 October. For more information and to secure your spot, please visit this page.

Jodie Hollander’s poems have appeared in or are forthcoming in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Poetry Review, Poetry Magazine, The Yale Review, The Harvard Review, Poetry, PN Review, The Kenyon Review, Poetry London, The Hudson Review, The Dark Horse, The New Criterion, The Rialto, Verse Daily, The Best Australian Poems of 2011, and The Best Australian Poems of 2015. Her debut full-length collection, My Dark Horses, was published with Liverpool University Press & Oxford University Press. Her second collection, Nocturne, was also published with Liverpool & Oxford University Press in 2023 and was longlisted for the Laurel Prize in nature writing. Hollander is the recipient of a MacDowell fellowship and a Fulbright fellowship in South Africa. She is also the originator of ‘Poetry in the Parks,’ in conjunction with several National Parks and Monuments in the US. In 2024 and 2026, Hollander was the first poet in residence for the Elmet Trust in the Calder Valley, where she wrote and taught out of the childhood home of Ted Hughes. In September of 2025, she was the visiting poet at Frost Place in Franconia, New Hampshire. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.