While preparing for a poetry club, I learned the following interesting things related to Robert Frost:
- Robert Frost was born in 1874, the same year that Athens demolished the Frankish Tower in the Acropolis.
- Robert Frost never graduated from college, although he attended Dartmouth and Harvard for short spells.
- Robert Frost recited “The Gift Outright” from memory at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy (1961). He composed another poem, “The Dedication”, as a preface, but he was unable to read the text of it at the podium (even with Nixon offering his top hat to shade the page). I found the relevant part in a video of the inauguration:
https://www.youtube.com/v/Rov3usRnu64?start=2404&end=2623&autoplay=1
Also, I find the following poem, “Not All There”, interesting:
I turned to speak to God
About the world’s despair;
But to make bad matters worse,
I found God wasn’t there.God turned to speak to me
(Don’t anybody laugh!)
God found I wasn’t there—
At least not over half.