The Buckley School's founder believed all public speakers could elevate their presentation skills by reading poetry out loud. We keep that worthwhile practice alive by including a poem in our magazine each month for you to read aloud.
"But all the fun's in how you say a thing."
– Robert Frost
Is it just us or does it seem Robert Frost's poems beg to be read aloud?
Scholar Isabelle Stuart, who researches poetry recitation practices in the period 1889 to 1945, noted this:
Frost was one of the first twentieth-century poets to make public performances of his work a central and consistent strand of his career, to the extent that Allen Ginsberg recognized him as among the "original entrepreneurs" of live readings.
She takes a deep dive into how Frost delivered his own poems, his desire to respond each time to his audience, and how that always created a bit of unease for the otherwise practiced performer.
This month, we provide a Frost poem that some people know best from its role in the movie, The Outsiders.
A new version of that story on Broadway won the Tony Award for Best Musical, with a score that includes the song "Stay Gold" inspired by Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
Here’s the poem for you to read out loud.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
by ROBERT FROST
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
If you'd like to compare your delivery to Frost's, here he is reciting his poem:
