If you grew up believing that “good fences make good neighbors” and that you should take “The Road Not Taken,” an interesting opportunity presents itself this autumn.

American poet Robert Frost’s granddaughter, Lesley Francis, is teaching a course on “Robert Frost: Philosopher” at Bethesda’s Davis Library, in partnership with Montgomery College’s Lifelong Learning Institute.  She’ll be exploring the four-time Pulitzer Prize winner’s work with particular emphasis on his philosophy as revealed in his poems and masques (plays).

Francis, the daughter of Frost’s eldest daughter, Lesley Frost, has lectured and published extensively on her grandfather. She is the author of the book Robert Frost: An Adventure in Poetry, 1900-1918 and 14 articles on the poet, though she says, “I don't consider myself a scholar of Robert Frost’s work.” 

Patch asked Francis what led to her writing about her grandfather. “My mother had gone to Brazil in 1954 for the World Congress of Writers with Frost--the State Department had asked him to represent the U.S. along with [William] Faulkner--and she came back with all these clippings in Portuguese.”  

Francis was interested in her grandfather’s life, “And since I’m related it made it easy to get access to materials.”

As for teaching, said Francis, “I love to do it and I learn a lot.”  

She teaches four different courses on Robert Frost--one a general overview, one on narrative verse, another on Frost as a love poet (not just romantic love, Francis emphasizes, but other things like love of labor, love of family), and a fourth new one examining philosophical influences such as William James, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henri Bergson.   

Were there any particular positives or negatives of growing up as the granddaughter of such an American icon?  “As a granddaughter it was nothing but positive,” she said, “but as a daughter or son it was very difficult.” 

Frost was poor, and only first published a book of verse when he was in his late '30s, though he had published numerous individual poems before that time. “I didn't have to deal with the strain and stress of moving around a lot and not having much money…My grandfather was very focused, even when there were family tragedies. Jobs were always secondary to his poetry. The poetry was always the center of his life.”

Retired from the staff of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in Washington, D. C., Francis is a former scholar-in-residence and adjunct professor of Spanish at Shenandoah University and former adjunct professor of Spanish at George Mason University. 

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The “Robert Frost: Philosopher” class runs six Friday sessions October 28-December 9 (no class on November 25), 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Davis Library, 6400 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda. Registration is available online.

This article has been corrected to indicate that Francis is a former adjunct professor at Shenandoah University and George Mason University. It has also been corrected to indicate Frost first published a book of verse in his late '30s and that Francis has written one book on her grandfather's work. We regret the errors.