Uprooted: Robert Frost

The Quiz Less Taken

Say goodbye to an old man’s winter night and stopping by woods on a snowy evening. April is National Poetry Month, which means it’s time for a prayer in spring and to honor one of America’s best-loved poets. Robert Frost, the son of William Prescott Frost Jr. and Isabelle Moodie, was born March 26, 1874. After unsuccessfully starting his adult life as a farmer, in a boundless moment, he turned to teaching and writing poetry. His works won him four Pulitzer Prizes (in 1924, 1931, 1937 and 1943), and never again would bird’s song be the same. Along with immortalizing New England rural life — including fireflies in the garden, apple picking, and a tree fallen across the road — Frost served as poet laureate and spoke at the inauguration of President Kennedy in 1961. Two years later; he died at the age of 88.

1 Frost was born in

a. Cold Spring, Ky.

b. Amherst, Mass.

c. San Francisco

d. Boston

2 Frost’s mother, Isabelle Moodie, was born in

a. Italy

b. Massachusetts

c. California

d. Scotland

e. Iceland

3 On his father’s side, Frost descends from colonist

a. Nicholas Frost

b. Jack Frost

c. Sonny Frost

4 The Frosts moved east in 1900 on

a. the road not taken

b. a brook in the city

c. a snowmobile

d. all of the above

5 Frost was buried

a. in a disused graveyard

b. in Grant’s Tomb

c. in Bennington, Vt.

d. neither out far nor in deep

6 Frost’s first published poem in 1894 was

a. “The Raven”

b. “My Butterfly”

c. “The Tyger”

7 Which is not the name of one of Frost’s children?

a. Elinor Bettina

b. Hannibal

c. Irma

8 Frost was given

a. the wood pile

b. the cow in apple-time

c. Hyla Brook

d. a cliff dwelling

9 In 1912, Frost sold the family farm and moved to

a. London

b. desert places

c. a ghost house

10 When the Frost family moved back to America, they named the new family farm

a. Two Tramps in Mud Time

b. The Exposed Nest

c. Rose Pogonias

d. none of the above

Answers:

1. c.

2. d. She was born Sept. 16, 1844, in Alloa, Clackmannan, Scotland.

3. a. He was from Tiverton, Devon, England, and came to New Hampshire in 1634 on the Wolfrana.

4. e.

5. c. The poet’s grave is in Old Bennington Cemetery.

6. b.

7. b. His other children’s names were Elliott, Lesley and Marjorie.

8. e. This was his grandfather’s farm.

9. a. The Frosts lived in London until 1915.

Scoring

Number of correct answers:

8–10 Celebrity Savvy

6–7 Notably Knowledgeable

4–5 Star Crossed