Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Robert Frost's Home Vandalized

A few weeks ago, some local teenagers decided to hold a raucous party in a Vermont farmhouse previously owned by poet Robert Frost. They did considerable damage, but stopped short of burning the place down. The New York Times columnist Dan Barry has written a lovely meditation about the incident titled A Violation of Both the Law and the Spirit. It's accompanied by an audio slide show that's narrated by a local college professor and filled with beautiful photos of Frost's home, nestled in the snowy woods he made famous.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Acting out of the novel An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, Brock Clarke ?

Lori said...

I didn't know there was such a novel, but found it on Amazon. And you're right, the description does sound weirdly similar. -Lori