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mwarner
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Robert Frost and Ann Arbor
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Jul 2 06:49 UTC 1994 |
This is from the welcome to Summer conference on Agora. I hauled it into
the History conference to start a discussion on the association between
Robert Frost and the UofM. :
Item 1: Welcome to Summer
Entered by Katie Geddes (katie) on Tue, Jun 21, 1994 (22:21):
FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN
Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.
-Robert Frost
#9 of 72: by Michael Delizia (md) on Wed, Jun 22, 1994 (08:51):
I love that Frost poem. Thanks, Katie.
#65 of 72: by Michael Lloyd Warner (mwarner) on Thu, Jun 30, 1994 (22:13):
Anybody remember when Robert Frost used to live on Plymouth road?
#66 of 72: by Marvin the Martian (dang) on Fri, Jul 1, 1994 (10:29):
my english teacher does.
#67 of 72: by Katie Geddes (katie) on Fri, Jul 1, 1994 (13:41):
I was told he lived on South University.
#68 of 72: by Steve Gibbard (scg) on Fri, Jul 1, 1994 (14:02):
I know he lived on Fuller. Maybe he lived on both at different times?
#69 of 72: by Marvin the Martian (dang) on Fri, Jul 1, 1994 (14:09):
quite possible. i've heard that he lived several places, and moved away
and back too.
#70 of 72: by STeve Andre' (steve) on Fri, Jul 1, 1994 (14:26):
He lived on Hill st, not far from Geddes for a while, too.
#71 of 72: by Michael Lloyd Warner (mwarner) on Fri, Jul 1, 1994 (17:23):
Hold those thoughts. It sounds like there is still a lot of local
knowledge about Robert Frost in Ann Arbor. I'd like to take it to a
"Robert Frost in Ann Arbor" item in the History conference. I have a
couple of stories I dredged up in the course of some research I've been
doing, but I'd have to find time to scrounge up the material. In the
meantime, someone should start an item in History. I'd like to discuss
more particulars of the above few comments, but not here. If you have a
"Robert Frost" remark, let it be the first item in an item in the History
conference, where interested parties should look. Otherwise, I will start
one in a day or two.
#72 of 72: by Jan Wolter (janc) on Sat, Jul 2, 1994 (00:37):
There was a good article on Frost in Ann Arbor inthe Observer a few years
ago. Bottom line: Frost hated Ann Arbor.
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| 55 responses total. |
mwarner
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response 1 of 55:
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Jul 2 07:13 UTC 1994 |
I'm not very familiar with biographical details of Robert Frost's life.
So, maybe some Grexers can enlighten me. I am curious about his
connection to A2, since a subject of my research seems to have been mixed
in the cause of his coming here. Another subject I am researching was
greatly delighted by his coming, found him to be an antidote to the H.L.
Menken loving masses. She was a co-founder of the campus periodical known
as "Whimsies". This all happened around 1921 or 1922 (have to check my
notes). Oddly, now that I read the "Firefly" poem chosen to start the
Agora item, I am reminded that my subject once had a short book written
about him by Emerson Hough called "The Firefly's Light". It was my
subject's $$$ in part that first brought Frost here.
I'm introducing an element of mystery here, but I think only as a device
to help uncover what is known among you. Yuki would be proud of you,
although only her recent passing allows me even to use her name (in good
conscious). She burned her letters, you now know, before she died.
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fwdehaan
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response 2 of 55:
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Jul 2 11:10 UTC 1994 |
Can somebody give me some basic info on Robert Frost. This poem and this item
makes me curious. And i have never heard of him, probably because i'm dutch.
When did he live ? Is poetry the only this he's done ? Has he published a lot ?
Folmer
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remmers
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response 3 of 55:
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Jul 2 13:39 UTC 1994 |
Frost lived 1874-1963 and is considered to be one of the finest American
poets. During his lifetime, he produced several volumes of poetry. He
lived most of his life in New England, and much if not most of his poetry
refelcts the culture of that region. I'm unsure of the extent to which
he is known outside the United States.
Until the matter came up in Agora, I was unaware (or had forgotten) that
he once lived in Ann Arbor. So he didn't like it, eh?
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srw
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response 4 of 55:
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Jul 2 14:11 UTC 1994 |
I would be surprised if Frost is not also very well known in other English
speaking countries. The nature of his trade, Poetry, accomplished
entirely in English, would naturally limit interest in him beyond those.
Can any British, Canadian, Australian, or New Zealanders confirm?
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rcurl
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response 5 of 55:
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Jul 2 22:21 UTC 1994 |
Re #2: I'd be surprised if Frost is really unknown in the Netherlands,
since educated Dutch are fluent in English, French and German also.
Perhaps there is an effect of most English being taught by English persons,
who would naturally prefer *their* Poet Laureates to our's.
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srw
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response 6 of 55:
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Jul 3 01:03 UTC 1994 |
Are you implying that the British don't teach Frost?
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mta
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response 7 of 55:
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Jul 3 03:51 UTC 1994 |
Yep, I'd wager that that's what he's implying.
;)
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rcurl
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response 8 of 55:
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Jul 3 06:14 UTC 1994 |
Frost published his first volumes of verse *in England*, while he
was resident there, in ca. 1910-1915, when he was ca. 38 years old.
He received Pulitzer prizes for poetry in 1924 and 1930. Despite all
this, he is not included in an anthology of "Best Loved Poems of
the American People", published in 1936! His fame came late in his
life.
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srw
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response 9 of 55:
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Jul 3 16:07 UTC 1994 |
I would have guessed that by now the British would be teaching his poetry.
But this is very far from anything I would actually know. Interesting.
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rcurl
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response 10 of 55:
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Jul 3 19:11 UTC 1994 |
In #5 I was not referring to courses in poetry in England, where I
would expect that Frost would be included (as an example of American
rustic poetry), but in English instruction in the Netherlands, where
the teachers are often just English emigrants, who can find a job
teaching English. However, I'm pretty deep into speculating now, so
will not argue the matter further!
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mwarner
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response 11 of 55:
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Jul 4 03:38 UTC 1994 |
When and why was Frost in Ann Arbor? My information is that he was here
for a year in 1921. I'm curious about what other people know. My
information is very much partial and almost without doubt a certain degree of
fond remembrance. The source of my accounts of Frost is one Stella Lee
Brunt of Hamilton, Ontario. She was later adopted by a former Trustee of
the University of Michigan. BTW the documents which give me my
information are housed at the Bentley Library on North Campus, U of M's
great House of History. I think I need to do a little more digging there
before I tell more of my tale...
rcurl knows more than he is letting on, but that's his job here!
Robert Frost didn't think much of Brunt's writing, but she was not
discouraged. She was not a person who was easy to discourage, although
she was far from insensitive.
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mwarner
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response 12 of 55:
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Jul 6 04:05 UTC 1994 |
The citation for what follows is: Michigan Historical Collections,
Bentley Library, University of Michigan. Papers of Stella (Brunt) Osborn
(1894-1988), research and comments by mwarner.
The biographical introduction to the Stella Osborn papers includes this
description: "Stella Osborn (nee Brunt) was born on July 31, 1894 in
Hamilton, Canada. She finished elementary school in 1908, and
subsequently went to work at the age of fifteen as a stenographer. She
eventually completed her high school education through night classes in
Toledo, Ohio. In 1918 she entered the University of Michigan, graduating
summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1922. In 1930 she received a
master's degree in Medieval English Literature, and in 1978, an honorary
Doctorate of Letters, both from the University of Michigan...
...In 1931, she became the adopted daughter of Chase S. Osborn,
ex-Governor of Michigan, and collaborated with him on five books...
...On April 9, 1949 her adoption was annulled and she became the wife of
Chase Osborn...
...Stella Osborn died in Sault Ste. Marie in March 1988, where she had
moved from Poulan, Georgia in 1980. In the last years of her life, she
continued a lively interest in world affairs, actively corresponding with
friends and with colleagues from the various peace organizations with
which she had been involved."
Robert Frost was a central figure to the meeting of Stella and Chase.
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mta
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response 13 of 55:
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Jul 6 04:49 UTC 1994 |
Fascinating -- I didn't realize you could adopt people over the age of 18.
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rcurl
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response 14 of 55:
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Jul 6 05:54 UTC 1994 |
I searched for Frost on Lynx and, besides copies of some of his poems,
came across a very sketchy, and apparently truncated, biography, which
had no mention of his Ann Arbor sojourn, much less any association with
Chase or Stella. The biographer mentioned other biographies as being
rather disdainful of Frost - a rather unusual contrast.
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md
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response 15 of 55:
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Jul 6 13:15 UTC 1994 |
I have a volume of Frost's letters that tells part of the story:
In 1921 Frost was invited to become "Poet in Residence," a
relatively new idea at the time, at the University of Michigan.
He was paid $5,000, donated to the University for this purpose by
Chase Osborn, to spend ten weeks or so in Ann Arbor during the
school year. He took his responsibilities seriously, organizing
workshops and discussion groups, and engaging many of the most
popular poets of the day to give public readings in Ann Arbor.
In his last year at "Michigan University," as he called it, the
illness of one of his daughters made it necessary in the dead of
winter for him to close up his house in Ann Arbor ("Every week or
so I would run the water out of the pipes") and commute back to
Massachusetts. His wife, his sister and his son were also in
poor health during this period. Finally, he resigned his post
and moved back to New England for good. In his last letter from
Ann Arbor, he says, "I like Michigan people and I like Michigan.
Only only."
A letter dated 28 November 1922 gives his street address as
"1432 Washtenaw Avenue."
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md
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response 16 of 55:
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Jul 6 13:31 UTC 1994 |
Btw, Frost's last year at U of M was 1926.
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kentn
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response 17 of 55:
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Jul 6 14:04 UTC 1994 |
So what happened to Frost when the ten weeks was up? Did Osborn
extend another payment to keep Frost at UM? Did UM cough up a
stipend?
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scg
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response 18 of 55:
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Jul 6 17:24 UTC 1994 |
1432 Washtenaw would probably be somewhere in the South University area.
I'll look for it when the class I'm teaching right now is over, since I'm
only a couple blocks away right now.
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md
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response 19 of 55:
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Jul 6 17:47 UTC 1994 |
Re #16: I'm afraid I didn't word that very clearly. Frost
was Poet in Residence for ten weeks each year from 1922
to 1926.
This item cost me $25.00. While browsing through the book
of Frost's letters, I came across a series from the early
1920s regarding Amy Lowell. Apparently, Lowell called in
sick to Frost's 50th birthday party, and Frost, by way of
retaliation, declined to attend a dinner in Boston to
celebrate the publication of Amy Lowell's book about Keats.
Amy Lowell died less than a month later (she really was
sick), and Frost wrote a characteristically unpleasent
letter to Louis Untermeyer about the whole thing, jokingly
accusing Lowell of timing her death so as to maximize his
guilt over missing her "Keats eats," as he called it.
Frost had a mean streak at times. In fairness to him,
however, Amy Lowell, who was tremendously influential in
her day, had refused to endorse one of Frost's books
because she didn't think his endorsement of one of hers
had been enthusiastic enough. She had her moments, too,
in other words. ANYWAY... Just last Saturday, before I
had read this item, I saw a first edition of Amy Lowell's
Keats book (two volumes, nice condition) at a local used
book store, for $25.00. Reading the Frost correspondence
in connection with this item sent me back to the book store
(after a stop at the ATM, of course).
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kentn
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response 20 of 55:
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Jul 6 20:04 UTC 1994 |
I hope your ATM account can afford the cost of 1432 Washtenaw...
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mwarner
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response 21 of 55:
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Jul 6 22:46 UTC 1994 |
What is the volume of Frost letters called, etc.? It sounds interesting.
The Bentley library has at least one folder labled "Robert Frost" in the
papers of then U of M President Burton's Papers from 1921-1922. The
problem with these archived collections of letters is that the most
interesting stuff in not labelled in many cases, and you have to be
willing to filter feed, in addition to being very creative in your
searching. That's one reason I appreciate now, since I have been doing
some letter reading research, books that are composed in large part of
reprinted letters. There is more work in them than just typesetting. (at
least the good ones).
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mwarner
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response 22 of 55:
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Jul 6 23:18 UTC 1994 |
Re 13: "The offer of adoption was far less than my dream but much more
than I had any reason to hope for. A stepchild of life from the
beginning, I could be deeply thankful for anything approaching the average
ration of happiness. So, in 1931, on the birthday of his mother, Chase
Osborn adopted me while he was at his winter camp in South Georgia, at the
Worth County courthouse in Sylvester. He was in his seventy-second year,
I in my thirty-eighth." SO Papers, Bentley Library. From SO's
unpublished autobiography.
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remmers
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response 23 of 55:
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Jul 7 01:16 UTC 1994 |
Interesting about Frost's mean streak. I've gleaned no hint of it from
his poetry, which is almost entirely gentle and humane.
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mwarner
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response 24 of 55:
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Jul 7 04:27 UTC 1994 |
Quotes from Stella Osborn...
"The importance of the Osborn-Upper Peninsula gift of Frost at the
University of Michigan can be understood only by reference to President
Burton's papers in the Michigan Historical Collections of the Bentley
Historical Library in Ann Arbor. Despite the outstanding success of that
first year, there would not have been a second year had it not been for
Dr. Burton's incredible persistance in searching out a second donor.
(still anonymous)."...
..."Another weakness Frost pointed out was that my prose was too
rhythmic. It made him feel - well - "sort of sick." I knew what he meant.
"I fight against it but don't seem to be able to get away from it."
"Well! If you realize it and have tried to stop it and can't, perhaps
that's the something that makes you different, so just forget about it,"
was his final advice. Nevertheless I still struggle and my prose still is
marred by taking off from the earth and walking straight into the sunset,
sunrise or stars."
There is reason to believe that Robert Frost was kinder to the minor
birds in his Ann Arbor days than he was in his later days at Breadloaf;
when at times he openly and sharply expressed his impatience at having to
bother with such stuff as he found in his basket -- though the writers
were paying good price for his bothering, and some of it was authentic. Or
should poets whose working hours are notoriously irregular ever be tied
down to contracts and timeclocks?... ...One complaint about Frost at
Breadloaf was that one morning he did not show up because of the deep hurt
when the frost killed his flowers." SO papers.
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