805 Robert Frost Finds a Friend [Revisited]

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

History, Arts, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In preparation for next week's conversation with Adam Plunkett, author of a new major biography of Robert Frost (1874-1963), we revisit an earlier episode about the widely anthologized (and often misunderstood) New England poet. In this episode, which first aired in 2017 as Episode 93, Jacke dives into a curious but compelling story from the years just before World War I, when a struggling Frost hastily packed up his family and moved to London in search of a friend. Although Frost’s efforts to ingratiate himself with W.B. Yeats and Ezra Pound fizzled, he soon found a man, critic Edward Thomas (1878-1917), who championed Frost’s poetry and became one of Frost’s best friends. Frost in turn inspired Thomas to write his own poetry – until something happened on one of their walks in the woods that would forever change them both. Professor Bill Hogan of Providence College joins Jacke to recount the full story of Frost and Thomas: their friendship, their falling out, and how one of Frost’s (and America’s) most famous poems, “The Road Not Taken,” inspired by Frost’s views of Thomas, has been widely misunderstood by generations of readers. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Help support the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/literature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network and Lit Hub Radio.
0:08.9	Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up, an audit dread.
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0:39.0	Right, home from work, walk the dog, kids are back, up the stairs for something.
0:46.9	Back down, no idea what I went up for. Mom, what's for dinner? Chop, sizzle, done.
0:56.2	Hello Fresh can't slow life down,
0:58.1	but it makes bringing everyone together around the table a whole lot easier.
1:02.5	So its phones down, forks up.
1:04.6	Hello Fresh.
1:05.6	Bring back dinner time.
1:07.7	Hello.
1:20.8	Hello for decades. Hello. For decades, Robert Lee Frost was famous as an American poet, maybe America's poet,
1:30.3	the American poet, beloved for his plain spoken verse, hardscrabble wisdom, New England country settings.
1:34.5	He won four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry, a record.
1:38.6	The voice that emerges from his poetry is not soft and cuddly.
1:43.4	It's a bit thorny, a bit clipped, like the sort of good neighbor you like to have around because he's a decent guy who gets things done.
1:47.6	That tree needs to come down.
1:50.3	I noticed your roof is sagging a bit.
	...

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