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Profs & Pints: Robert Frost's Winter

Profs and Pints presents: Robert Frosts Winter, with Michael Manson, former lecturer on literature at American University and past president of the Robert Frost Society.

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.

Thus begins Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, which ranks as one of the most popular American poems of the 20th century and helped cement Robert Frosts status as of one of our nations most beloved poets. As we approach the darkest evening of the year, come to the Bier Baron Tavern for a talk that will have you delighting in Frost and embracing winter, the subject of several of his poems.

Winter challenges modern urban Americans less immediately than it did Frost, who owned several New England farms. Yet the questions Frost raised through the metaphor of winter remain vital. Are humans meant to live and thrive on this planet, or is existence some cruel joke? How do we explain human resilience, the ability to keep pushing through despite the odds? Is there some force above us, in life itself, or some stubbornness at the heart of being human? What does it mean to thrive?

Frost raised questions like these in his poetry without answering them. For him, the answers are to be found in the process of making. Whether were making poems, keeping gardens, playing sports, building careers, or raising families, we are all turning chaos into order. Strongly spent, Frost says, is synonymous with kept, and he is inspired by those times when humans spend their lives strongly and thus keep them.

Come hear Michael Manson, a veteran scholar of Frost, read and discuss some of Frosts poems on winter and other subjects. Hell cover some of Frosts best-known poemsStopping by Woods, Desert Places, The Wood-Pileas well as lesser-known works such as Afterflakes, Questioning Faces, and Good-by and Keep Cold. Whether you walk out with milesor just a few blocksto go before you sleep, youll leave with a different perspective on the season ahead.