PPrime Minister Narendra Modi gave a special gift to US President Joe Biden to honor his knowledge and experience, earning him the title of ‘Drishta Sahasrachandro’, meaning a wise man who has seen one thousand visions on completion of 80 years and eight months. Have seen the moon. The gift included a copy of the first edition of Ten Major Upanishads by Sri Purohit Swami and WB Yates, published by Messrs Faber & Faber Ltd. of London and printed at Glasgow University Press in 1937. This gift assumes significance because President Biden has often quoted and referred to the works and Poem The famous Irish poet William Butler Yeats showed his admiration for Yeats’ writing in his public speeches.
In return, PM Modi received the first edition of the poems of highly regarded poet and four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Robert Frost, who served as the Poet Laureate of the Congressional Library. Frost’s poetry has made a lasting impression, his poem ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’ adorning lines such as “The woods are lovely dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep”. Agenda of Prime Minister Nehru. At the Circuit House in Dehradun, which later became the Raj Bhavan, the lines were engraved on a wooden plaque for all to see and remember. Nehru liked this guest house very much and he stayed here till a few days before his death.
This essay highlights Frost’s extensive collection of works, starting with his early work ‘Twilight and the Butterfly’ during his adolescence as a lovesick youth, to his last poem, ‘The Gift Outright’, which he wrote to Kennedy. I was told Inauguration.
Frost’s Poetry Tour
Let us begin a journey through Frost’s remarkable achievements, beginning with her first Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, new HampshireIn 1924. The collection includes the famous poem ‘Stopping by the Woods’, as well as ‘fire and Ice, Written in 1920, shortly after the end of World War I, ‘Fire and Ice’ explores themes of revolution, apocalypse, and social and political chaos prevalent at the time. The imagery of fire in the poem symbolizes anger, war, and passion, while ice represents cold indifference and passivity. The poem’s ambiguity and deeply symbolic quality allow for a variety of interpretations.
Frost won his second Pulitzer Prize in 1931 for his collection anthology poems, including his first work ‘A Boy’s Will’ and the famous ‘The Road Not Taken’. In ‘A Boy’s Will’, Frost reflects on the deep musings of a young mind, expressing the notion that by renouncing the world, one can become more authentic to oneself. In ‘The Road Not Taken’, the protagonist encounters a fork in the path, and he laments the need to choose one path rather than the other. He reassures himself that he will someday return to pursue an alternate path, but a feeling persists that he will never have the opportunity. Interestingly, both paths are equally covered with leaves, which challenges the notion that the “lesser traveled” is in fact. This poem makes a bitter exploration of how we often rewrite our own history to justify the decisions we make.
Frost’s Collection another range, which won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1937, was dedicated to his beloved wife, Elinor Frost – “What it might have meant to her that beyond the white mountains was green;” Beyond the two were the Rockies, the Sierras and, in thought, the Andes and the Himalayas—even beyond the realm of government and religion. Perhaps he had a premonition of his impending death, as he died within a year of publication.
One of Frost’s famous poems, ‘The Mending Wall’, traces humanity’s innate desire to mark and set boundaries for their territories, homes and gardens. While Frost viewed such markers as a relic of an earlier stage of human evolution, his neighbor argues that “good fences make good neighbors”. The poem is often misunderstood, as noted by Frost himself, but he chose to keep its true meaning a secret. The ‘Mending Wall’ can be analyzed as a contrast between Frost’s approach to life and human relationships, his desire to bridge the divide, and his neighbor’s more rigid approach on maintaining boundaries.
The period between Frost’s publications another range And a witness tree, which earned him his final Pulitzer Prize in 1943, was marked by deep personal tragedies. In 1940, their son Carol tragically took his own life, and another daughter, Marjorie, had already died. The collection includes the iconic poem ‘The Gift Outright’, which Frost recited from memory at President Kennedy’s inauguration.
It was our land for more than a hundred years.
Earlier we were his people. she was ours
in Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were English, still colonialists,
to possess that which we were still untouched by,
Possession of what we no longer have.
What we were blocking made us weak.
until we found out it was us
We were deprived of our living land,
And immediately found salvation in surrender.
As we were, we devoted ourselves wholeheartedly.
(the act of gift was many acts of war)
Vaguely feeling the land to the west,
But still unstudied, artless, uncultivated,
As she was, so she will become.
This powerful piece was intended to follow Frost’s poem ‘The Dedication’ during the inauguration, which spoke of “the greatest vote ever cast by the people”, and expressed the hope that President Kennedy would lead the country to ” will lead to the next Augustan age” – “a golden age of poetry and power / Whose early afternoon it is.
When poets became involved beyond the realms of government and religion, President Kennedy said of them: Frost “saw poetry as a means of saving power from itself. When power drives man to the ego, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his own existence. When troubled by power, good words heal wounds.”
The exchange of these first editions is a testimony to the deep appreciation and mutual admiration between the two countries, as well as to the everlasting influence of poets like Yeats, Frost and their ability to inspire and connect people through their words.
Sanjeev Chopra is a former IAS officer and Festival Director of Valley of Words. Until recently, he was the director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. He tweeted @ChopraSanjeev. Thoughts are personal.