Frost (Robert) #AtoZChallenge

Today, we turn to a poet.

Robert Frost, even years after his death, is still popular, his poems loved even by people who don't get much into poetry.

I've loved his poetry since I was introduced to a couple of his famous poems in school.

During a 2021 visit to Bennington, Vermont, we visited Robert Frost's grave in the graveyard of this small city's First Congregational Church.  

The First Congregational Church of Bennington, Vermont.

Before we visit Frost's grave, how about investigating at least one other grave?

I like to visit old graveyards. There were a number of 19th century graves in the cemetery where Frost and his family are buried, but this one intrigued me because it seems to be in excellent condition for a stone marking the grave someone who died in 1842.  This may be the grave of the father of American Unitarianism, William Ellery Channing. 

I'm not as educated about symbolism on gravestones of the 18th and 19th century as I could be. 

Meanwhile, here is the Frost family gravesite. You'll note two children died young,. One died at a day old and the other when he was four (cholera). His wife died at the age of 64.

These two poems were nearby. "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" is one of his most famous poems.

Here are Frost's thoughts about graveyards.

Finally, Frost was invited to the 1961 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy to read a poem.  He wrote a poem for the occasion but wind and glare prevented him from reading the poem.  So he switched to a poem, The Gift Outright, which he knew by heart.  

"F" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme: "From Florida to Vermont With Stops In Between".  

Tomorrow, back to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.