And today's fourth graders seldom hear "just-the-right-words"! In most of the talk they hear and the material they read, the extent of any description is: nice or awesome or cool or good. Objects from intangible ideas to articles of clothing are referred to as "thing" or "stuff" or just "it" without an antecedent to clarify what "it" is.
Loved your piece about Frost and Ciardi, Terry. Your students surely must count you as a great blssing! I'm remindee that as a young reporter with the Constitution I covered onr or two of Frost's annual visits to Agnes Scott. On one occasion, I suggested to the photographer that he snap Frost sitting on a pumpkin near the entrance to the auditoriu so I could write a clever captionn about Frost on the pumpkin. Fortunately, cooler (frostier?) heads prevailed and I was spared the embarrassment....
Thanks, Joan and Don.
Don! The Frost on the Pumpkin idea has brought to mind the Twain quote you sent today about the ugly woman: I may have to modify some of what I've said about other ideas over the years!! 
Terrell, I've never seen a picture of Frost when he was young. He looks like Robert Kennedy. Amazing.
I'm curious. Does Georgia have a poetry in the school program?
I wanted to show a pic from closer to the time he wrote the poem than our usual image of Frost. I tend to picture him as I remember him from JFK's inauguration which I watched on TV when I was 13.
I am not aware of a "poetry in the school" program. I have heard of a school or two which have had short term "poets in residence". We have a "National Creative Society" that was begun here in Rome and sponsors some poetry reading and writing programs in the schools. Tell me more about the program.
I was blessed to have several teachers whose obvious joy and enthusiasm for some elements of their subject was infectious. Your pupils are obviously blessed in just that way.
I never ever never get tired of hearing this poem! Thank you. Your students are indeed lucky.
My stepmother/cousin had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting Mr. Frost when he was visiting the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Since our family have a strong Lee (Robert E. etc.) connection, she brought that up to him while he was inscribing a volume of poetry to her. At that point of the conversation, he inserted the 'Lee' between the 'Robert' and the 'Frost'. Unfortunately we lost the book in a house fire. It might have been one of the few signitures containing 'Lee'.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I look forward to visiting you more often!
Commenting by HaloScan
