Robert Frost (left) shakes hands with the Wilson graduates of 1935.

Robert Frost speaking informally with students in 1960.

This image features the short note and autograph from Robert Frost to Margaret Disert, former Dean.

Visited Wilson in 1960 as the first Given Lecturer

Robert Frost is heralded as perhaps the most well-known and well-loved American poet of all time. Though his first book was not published until he was 40, his works earned him multiple Pulitzer Prizes and the unofficial title of poet laureate of the United States.

Despite publishing a few sporadic poems in the early 1900s, Frost did not receive much recognition until his time spent living and writing in England. During these years, he wrote two books which jump-started his rise to fame; when he and his family returned home to the States, many publications sought his work.

Over the span of his life, he published at least twenty-seven collections of poetry, as well as letters and plays. In 1955, Vermont named a mountain after Frost, cementing his legacy in New England, the land of his youth. Several years later, he was given the honor of reading a poem at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Though not many records were kept of Frost’s first visit to Wilson College, there remains a photo of him shaking hands with the graduates of 1935, donated by the family of Martha Jenks ‘35, from her personal photographs.

At the time of his second visit to Wilson, Frost had just turned 85, but was still writing and publishing works. He gave the convocation address, but a select group of students were also invited to have an informal conversation with him. He spoke with the students about the art of poetry and engaged with them about current events and politics as well.

As one student wrote the college’s paper, “An old man with shaggy white hair, long bristly eyebrows and sparkling blue eyes faced us. Before he had finished speaking, the unusual had happened. The Wilson students had shed their apathetic shells and had become conscious of the fact that this visitor to the college was no ordinary one. … For most of us, his visit is something we will remember, for the personality of Robert Frost penetrated into the consciousness of everyone. When we pick up a book of his poetry, we will no longer read merely a printed poem, but we will see him reading it to us.”

There also remains from this visit a book, pictured left, in which he transcribed a note to Margaret Disert, former Dean of Wilson College. 

Sources:

Billboard Volume 41 No. 24 May 26, 1960

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-frost