When asked to reveal the hidden meaning of his poems, Robert Frost's response was "If I wanted you to know I'd had told you in the poem." Born in San Francisco in 1874, Frost spent his early childhood in California, then moved to Massachusetts at the age of 11, following the death of his father. He spent much of the rest of his life in New England. Frost taught at a number of New England institutions to support himself and his family; but his true passion was writing. He once said that he wanted to write, "a few poems it will be hard to get rid of." Frost wrote one of his most famous poems, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," at his home in Shaftsbury, Vermont in 1922. It was published the following year in a volume of poems called New Hampshire, which earned Frost one of the four Pulitzer Prizes he would receive in his lifetime. This clip came from a 1958 film shot at Frost's farmhouse in Vermont. In addition to reading two poems in the film, Frost also recalls personal experiences—as a mill worker, cobbler, and farmer—that helped inspire his poetry.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" from THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1923 1969 by Henry Holt and Company. Copyright © 1951 by Robert Frost. Used by arrangement with Henry Holt and Company, LLC.