Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World
Directed by Shirley Clarke
WGBH
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] “These 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.” ― Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening[/box]
A reminder of a time when poetry and politics could meet and of a great American poet.
This film was completed just before the poet Robert Frost died at the age of 88 in 1963. By then he had become an American institution. He had old ties to the Democratic Party and was a friend to the Kennedy Administration. We see him wow the crowds at a couple of poetry readings and be interviewed in New Hampshire.
Clarke put together an interestingly cut documentary that gave a real feeling for the man and his thought. Frost is a great reader of his own work. It is just short of an hour long.
The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Features.
