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[CCBC-Net] Frost and others
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From: Ruth I. Gordon <Druthgo>
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 12:48:33 -0700
I'm delighted that Sally Miller reminded me of four evenings (over 4 years) I spent with Robert Frost. My college, Tufts, was, I think, the first to recognize Frost many, many years before her became a household name. Because of that recognition (an honorary degree????), he gave a talk at Tufts every year and sometimes met with our classes in poetry, taught by the college poet, John Holmes. (We also has the privilege of dining with Frost.) And yes, invariably someone would ask about "The Road Not Taken," and "Tufts of Grass," etc., etc. His answer was always, "It says what it says" or words to than effect.
We also met with Archibald MacLeish (I can't remember if he was also Librarian of the Congress at that time--the early 1950s). His response to questions,"What did you mean....?" was fairly close to Frost's and to other writers I have met.
"Deconstruction," that delightful hobby of the French and certain teachers at Yale a few years ago, can tear the wings off the butterfly. One other example: When I took the GRE exam, one of the tasks was to examine, interpret, and respond to set questions about a poem--the one given us that year was Gerard Manly Hopkins, "Heaven-Haven, A Nun Take the Veil." I had lived with that poem for some years and it means (means) as much to me as did a comfortable old sweater on a cold New England February day. The fact that I was admitted to a graduate school may be one of the miracles of my education. None of the responses GRE wanted and accepted were there in the multiple answers to the questions.
Pfui on the need to deconstruct, an academic game. Or why I objected so strongly to the illustrations for (against??) Frost's "Stopping by Woods..." so many years ago.
Big Grandma
(and that will do it for me)
Received on Mon 07 Apr 2008 02:48:33 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 12:48:33 -0700
I'm delighted that Sally Miller reminded me of four evenings (over 4 years) I spent with Robert Frost. My college, Tufts, was, I think, the first to recognize Frost many, many years before her became a household name. Because of that recognition (an honorary degree????), he gave a talk at Tufts every year and sometimes met with our classes in poetry, taught by the college poet, John Holmes. (We also has the privilege of dining with Frost.) And yes, invariably someone would ask about "The Road Not Taken," and "Tufts of Grass," etc., etc. His answer was always, "It says what it says" or words to than effect.
We also met with Archibald MacLeish (I can't remember if he was also Librarian of the Congress at that time--the early 1950s). His response to questions,"What did you mean....?" was fairly close to Frost's and to other writers I have met.
"Deconstruction," that delightful hobby of the French and certain teachers at Yale a few years ago, can tear the wings off the butterfly. One other example: When I took the GRE exam, one of the tasks was to examine, interpret, and respond to set questions about a poem--the one given us that year was Gerard Manly Hopkins, "Heaven-Haven, A Nun Take the Veil." I had lived with that poem for some years and it means (means) as much to me as did a comfortable old sweater on a cold New England February day. The fact that I was admitted to a graduate school may be one of the miracles of my education. None of the responses GRE wanted and accepted were there in the multiple answers to the questions.
Pfui on the need to deconstruct, an academic game. Or why I objected so strongly to the illustrations for (against??) Frost's "Stopping by Woods..." so many years ago.
Big Grandma
(and that will do it for me)
Received on Mon 07 Apr 2008 02:48:33 PM CDT
