Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation, (CCLXXIII) – USA, Robert FROST (1874, California – 1963, Massachusetts): “A Question”, “Întrebare”

Robert Lee Frost

A Question
Robert FROST (1874-1963)

A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.

Întrebare
Robert FROST (1874-1963)

Ghiciţi-mi într-o ceaşcă de cafea
Şi spuneţi sincer, oameni din trecut,
Dacă necazul, tot, din viaţa mea,
N-a fost prea mult de a mă fi născut.

Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN,
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SHORT BIO: Robert Lee Frost (1874, California –1963, Massachusetts) was an American writer, whose work was initially published in England before it came in print in America. His poetry employed settings from the early twentieth century rural life in New England.
One of the most popular and critically respected American poets of the twentieth century, Robert Frost became one of America’s rare “public literary figures, almost an artistic institution.” During his lifetime Frost was honored frequently, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960.

In all, Robert Frost received over 40 honorary degrees, including ones from Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge universities, and was the only person to receive two honorary degrees from Dartmouth College.