Robert Frost, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet, was heavily influenced by some of the world’s greatest writers and by the environment surrounding him. He was deeply impacted by his rural New England surroundings, creating an inseparable bond between his identity and the land, as well as from many of his great literary influences. Among them was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was a great inspiration to Frost. Emerson’s essay “Nature”, a work that celebrates and encourages individualism, had a profound effect Frost and his writing. His lyrical poetry was strongly influenced by Emerson’s belief in the ‘oneness’ between nature and the individual, who can exist in harmony. Emerson’s teachings of non-conformity, independence, and self-reliance pervaded the oeuvre of Frost.
T. S. Eliot and Henry David Thoreau were two other important personas that had a significant influence on the poet. Eliot’s modernist ideas and themes such as mortality, religion and suffering impacted Frost’s conceptualizations of these topics. Similarly, Frost was deeply passionate about Thoreau’s principles of conservation, simplicity, and independence and often wrote about them in his poetry. His nature-based writings, combined with his admiration of Thoreau’s advocacy for self-reflection and transcendence, created the essence of Frost’s artistry. Thoreau’s essay “Walking” was also quite literal in Frost’s work, as he traveled throughout pastures and barren land, connecting with nature and recording his impression in his writings.
Robert Frost was a great admirer of the Romantic line of poets, including William Wordsworth and John Keats. His piece “The Sound of Trees”, which paid homage to the aforementioned poets, was written under the influence of their views on romanticism, solitary life and nature. Frost was heavily impressed by Wordsworth’s writing style, especially in his ode “The World is too much with Us”, which focuses on how human beings are too easily distracted by their worldly and materialistic endeavors, which causes them to lose sight of the beauty of nature. Frost’s love for and fascination of nature was partially due to his knowledge of Wordsworth’s works. As for Keats’ fascination with the power of language with regards to imagination and continuous change, this also deeply resonated with Frost and was tangible in his poetry.
Who Influenced Robert Frost: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Although Robert Frost was inspired by a range of poets, none impacted him as profoundly as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson’s works encouraged individualism and celebrate natural beauty. These themes pervaded the works of Frost, and his deepconnection to nature strongly echoes Emerson’s own views of non-conformity, independence and self-reliance. Frost was always keen to reference Emerson in his work, as he seemed to revere Emerson as one of his two other great influences, T. S. Eliot and Henry David Thoreau.
Emerson’s essay, “Nature”, was one of Frost’s key sources of inspiration. As a transcendentalist writer, Emerson encouraged people to look within themselves and find a connection to their spiritual self. To Frost, the idea of a spiritual connection tonature was incredibly profound, and he often wrote about this notion of harmony between the individual and nature. Furthermore, Emerson wrote about the importance of honesty and sincerity, inspiring Frost to be as honest and raw with his works as possible.
The importance of integrity to Emerson was an idea that also resonated with Frost. Thus, one can observe how Frost was widely inspired by Emerson’s philosophy and how it has shaped his work. Frost shared Emerson’s admiration for rural life, solitude and a quiet yet powerful lifestyle. Frost sought to evoke in his own poetry the same sense of unshakable appreciation that Emerson expressed for nature and for self-expression.
Frost was also heavily enamored by Emerson’s discussion of the value of contemplation. Emerson sought to understand the universe through this inward looking and through self-reflection, which Frost adopted as a key personal belief. Emerson’s ideals and teachings, as well as the close bond that Frost had with nature and with the rural life, was perhaps the most influential part of Frost’s work.
Who Influenced Robert Frost : T.S. Eliot
Another major figure in Robert Frost’s literary formation was T. S. Eliot, an American-born poet and playwright who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Frost admired Eliot’s modernist style, which explored themes such as religion and suffering. These were topics that Frost was also exploring in his writing. Additionally, Eliot’s themes of mortality and universal understanding of human suffering are clearly visible in Frost’s work.
Eliot and Frost were almost contemporaries, and there are some direct references to Eliot’s works in Frost’s poems. For example, the line from Eliot’s “The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock” that reads “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” is echoed in Frost’s “Valley of Approaching Night”, which reads “But waiting on the edge of life/ For as we end our lives by spoons/ Our lives begin with pebbles”.
Furthermore, Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” has been said to be a direct reference to Frost’s work, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, by alluding to a similar idea of how the beauty of nature can not last. The idea of nature and its beauty living only temporarily is conveyed in Eliot’s poem, which reads “Gather the rose of the temporary, the romantic and the violent”. This allusion to Frost’s poem manifests itself again in Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” when he compares the beauty of nature to a golden world that dies in the night. Both works discuss how humans can be unable to keep the beauty of nature alive no matter how hard they may try.
The way Eliot approached his writing in a moral and philosophical manner, as well as his ideas about mortality and suffering, greatly impacted Frost personally and creatively, which is evident in his work. It is clear that the two writers had a deep appreciation for each other’s work, and the influence that Eliot had on Frost is undeniable.
Who Influenced Robert Frost : Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was another great literary figure who impacted Robert Frost’s writing. Specifically, Frost was taken by Thoreau’s affinity for conservation, simplicity and independence. Thoreau was a nature enthusiast and much of his works highlight his passion for solitary life and the power of self-reflection. These themes are seen throughout Frost’s poems and other works. As a result, there is a heavy influence of Thoreau in Frost’s work.
One can observe a clear overlap between Thoreau’s essay “Walking” and Robert Frost’s poem “The Sound of Trees”. As Thoreau expounded on the importance of nature and solitude, Frost traveled around and connected with nature, recording his impressions. Thoreau’s exploration of nature and the “over-soul” is present in Frost’s work, from “Mowing” to “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”.
In “Walking”, Thoreau celebrates nature as we as the power of wandering freely. He argues that travel and journeying allows one to break out of the routines of everyday life and to gain a unique perspective of nature. This same sentiment is expressed in Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”, which celebrates the success in selecting a different, unexplored path. This choice serves as a powerful metaphor for how the individual can escape the judgement of the public. In doing so, the individual is allowed to pursue an unknown destiny.
Frost was deeply impacted by Thoreau’s principles of conservation and individualism, translating the themes of Thoreau into his works. Although the two writers lived and wrote in different eras, the remarkable impact of Thoreau’s work can still be seen in Frost’s creating.
Who Influenced Robert Frost : William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was an influential member of the British Romantic line of poets, and also had an indelible impact on the works of Robert Frost. Frost was heavily impressed by Wordsworth’s writing style and strongly identified with a number of his works. Specifically, Wordsworth’s ode “The World is Too Much With Us”, which explored the idea of how human beings tend to be overly focused on materialistic objects and neglect to appreciate the beauty of nature, was a particular source of inspiration for Frost.
This same idea is explored in one of Frost’s earliest poems, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”. The speaker in this poem contemplates the beauty of nature and reflects on the religious, spiritual and philosophical sides of life. This same sense of nature and spiritualism greatly resonates with Wordsworth’s work, which promotes the individual’s intimate connection with the serenity and indulges in an analysis of their own inner thoughts. The speaker in Frost’s poem stopped to appreciate and take in the beauty of the world, followed by an appreciation for life.
Wordsworth’s poem “Tintern Abbey”, which describes the effects of people on nature, also resonated strongly with Frost. “The Road Not Taken” is a poem that reflects on the idea of how two roads can lead to different outcomes, which was also discussed in Wordsworth’s work. Furthermore, Frost’s poem “Into My Own”, has close parallels to Wordsworth’s piece, “Nutting”, as both poems explore the beauty of the natural world and the immense pleasure of nature. Both writers heavily valued the power of nature and the importance of diving into one’s own thoughts.
Through his deep appreciation for poetry, Frost was heavily impacted by the works of Wordsworth, combining the latter’s love for nature and exploration of the individual with his own. Therefore, Wordsworth’s themes of solitary life and nature had an important role in the development of Frost’s work.
Who Influenced Robert Frost : John Keats
Like the Romantic line of poets before him, Robert Frost admired the works of John Keats. Frost was taken by Keats’ fascination with the power of language and the idea of continuous change. This inspired Frost to write some of his best works, such as“The Sound of Trees”, which utilized Keats’ poetic style and was an homage to other preceding Romantic poets. Keats’ works were often lyrical and evoked a veritable mood in the reader, which can also be seen present in some of Frost’s poems.
Keats believed that beauty was an endlessly shifting construct, arguing that everything was constantly in the process of isolation and decay. This idea was explored in Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, which conveyed the sentiment of how natural beauty is temporary and will not be able to last forever. This idea of transient beauty and mortality was prominent in Keats’ work, and Frost’s poem “Dust of Snow”, which also dealt with ideas of fragility and transience was also inspired by the works of Keats.
Both Frost and Keats wrote about the power of language, and the immense joy that an individual can experience when truly appreciating their surroundings. Frost was particularly taken by this concept and highlighted it in his poem “Two Look at Two”. This poem talks about how two people can see two different things when they look at the same object. This idea of perceiving two different truths, as well as the concept of continuing change, was explored by Keats in some of his works, notably in “Ode to a Nighting
