President Stephen Blackwood and Jay Parini on new free online short course, Robert Frost: The American Voice
News 28th October 2024
Jay Parini examines the life, works and “particular genius” of Frost, whom he considers “the granite voice of American poetry”
Join us for a wide-ranging podcast discussion between President Stephen Blackwood and Jay Parini, the best-selling biographer, recent movie producer, and now host of Ralston College’s new, free online short course, Robert Frost: The American Voice.
Anyone, anywhere interested in the life, works and “particular genius” of Frost can join the course which is available for the first time today.
“Frost is an exciting poet. He’s the granite voice of American poetry, he’s the perfect guide to the nature of America, to the nature of New England,” Parini says.
“I never tire of it… going back to these amazing poems and seeing what Frost had: a particular genius that makes language, in his mouth, in his hands, come alive.”
President Blackwood spoke with Parini, who is also a celebrated novelist, poet and critic, during his recent visit to Glasgow, Scotland, where he is the executive producer of the film adaptation of his memoir, Borges and Me: An Encounter.
Discussing the value that studying the humanities has brought to his life and career, Parini admitted feeling overwhelmed in 1975 when he graduated from the University of St Andrews with a Ph.D. in English.
“Those were strange years, I was uncertain who I would become," he said. “I am remembering so vividly what it was like for me then: there was no market, the job market had completely tanked, completely tanked. The chances of my getting a job with a Ph.D. in English from St Andrews were nothing, nil. I just wanted to write poetry and novels,” Parini said.
“But, I felt this inner drive. I thought, ‘well, whatever happens, I must just follow my dream here, and keep this going.’ I worked, and worked, and worked...I went to the library every day, and worked all day long. Fifty-five years later, I still go to the library and work all day long, and write all day long. That’s why I’ve published 40 books.”
Recalling lunches with Sir Isaiah Berlin at the University of Oxford, where Parini was a Fellow, he said the philosopher and historian of ideas encouraged his dreams further:
“It is people like Isaiah Berlin who served as models for me. He was an example of how important the life of the mind is, how important reading is.
“Isaiah Berlin said to me: ‘Just keep reading and thinking and discerning. It’s all about discernment. You’re learning how to read and how to discern.’”
On the value that individuals can glean from reading poetry and literature, Parini says: “Literature really is the language that is adequate to our experience.
“When I read the poetry of, say, Robert Frost, I’m looking at poetry that really touches my heart, and somehow explains my life. The main issues of life are laid out clearly in language that reflects my own experience," he said. “I’m not moved by most of the language that I hear throughout the day… Rather than listen to the evening news, I’d rather read Frost or Homer or Aeschylus, or read a passage from Dante, or an essay by Montaigne.
“I’d rather read a poem by Wordsworth or Yeats. There’s just so much available to us with complex beautiful expressions of the human experience. Why would I mess with anything but this great stuff? So, I spend my life in the great works. There is so much available to me right there.”
About Ralston College’s new free online short course, Robert Frost: The American Voice
The short course was created by Parini, who in March 2024–the sesquicentenary of Frost’s birth–published his second book on the great American poet, Robert Frost: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart.
His first, a biography entitled Robert Frost: A Life, was published in 2000, and won the Chicago Tribune-Heartland Award.
President Stephen Blackwood expressed his excitement at having a world-renowned expert engage a global audience on the life and works of such a pivotal American voice.
“Establishing a living contact with voices of the past is one of the most important ways for education to address the modern crises of rootlessness, of isolation, and of cynicism,” he said. “Truly being able to engage with the past in a deep and authentic way requires more than the mere presence of books or works of art.
“It relies on the wisdom of guides like Jay Parini to show the way, guides who share that crucial sense of mission–of deep, devoted, and good-faith engagement with works that have inspired and shaped our fellow human beings for centuries.
“We are lucky to live in an age when access to great works of art and intellect has never been easier. Yet mere availability is not the same thing as the genuine access and encounter that Jay Parini provides to students through this new, free online short course.”
Details about course, Robert Forst: The American Voice
Over four weeks, each unit is delivered directly to students’ inboxes inviting their examination of:
- Videos with Jay Parini recorded outside Robert Frost's own cabin in Vermont
- Audio excerpts of Parini’s recitation of several Frost poems
- Electronic copies of each poem cited
- Brief articles
- Quizzes
- Prompts by Parini to inspire deeper reflections on Frost’s work
Week 1
The first week of Robert Frost: The American Voice considers how Frost’s life and work was shaped by his experience of the rural landscape of New England.
Week 2
In the second week, students learn more about how Frost’s poetry is carefully attuned to the natural world and its rhythms.
Week 3
During the third week, the people in Frost’s poetry are the focus. Students read five poems that draw their power from the dramatic lives of the characters they depict.
Week 4
In the course’s fourth and final week, students consider Frost’s historical context and how he sought to speak and respond to the public events of his day.
A certificate of completion of this free online short course is provided to each student who completes it.
Who is Jay Parini?
The movie adaptation of the memoir, Borges and Me: An Encounter, is Jay Parini’s second project with Hollywood. In 2009, the movie adaptation of his best-selling novel about the final months of Leo Tolstoy’s life, The Last Station, was nominated for an Academy Award.
Parini is also a gifted poet who has produced six poetry books and is a celebrated authority on the medium–in part through the success of his non-fiction book, Why Poetry Matters.
In it, Parini meditates on poetry’s power to transform the human experience by acknowledging the possibilities in life that are most perceptible to poets. His two other non-fiction books about poetry include The Art of Teaching and Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America.
In addition to those on Frost, Parini has written other biographies about John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Gore Vidal, and Jesus.
Once his work as an executive producer concludes, Parini will return to his home in Vermont for his 50th and final year teaching at Middlebury College.
The benefits of memorizing poetry
Ralston College’s mission to transmit the riches of humanistic inquiry to anyone, anywhere is one that inspired Parini, who says he is delighted to have another platform through which he can persuade others not just of the beauty of Frost’s works, but of the value of memorizing poetry.
“Because Frost is an easy to memorize poet, it’s fun to do. Then, you’ve got these poems in your heart, and in your head,” Parini said.
“I say the poems of Frost to myself again and again: when I’m walking along a street, when I’m driving, when I wake up at 3 a.m. I’ll often recite a couple of Frost poems to myself. I find it very calming that granite voice. It seems to me this is the American voice that is clear, that is rational, that is beautiful. The language is full of metaphor, the metaphors are marvelous.”
Poetry memorization and recitation is a tradition of which many students–present and past–of Ralston College are fond.
Through each of the four terms of study for the College’s Master of Arts in Humanities degree, poetry is a focus–from the epic narratives of Homer and Virgil, classical Greek drama, to the integration of philosophy and poetry in Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, the poetic genius of Dante’s Divine Comedy, the plays of Shakespeare and Goethe, and T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets.
In each class since the College opened its doors to in-person learning in 2022, students have recited poems at weekly formal dinners, at social gatherings, and at parties. Often recitations are delivered in the poem’s original language and form.
Who can apply to Ralston College?
While Ralston College’s short courses are available for free online; students admitted to its one-year Master of Arts in the Humanities are selected through an admissions process, which includes the submission of a 500- to 1000-word essay and a 30-minute panel interview by College faculty.
The College’s current admissions cycle will assemble its fourth consecutive cohort to be admitted to their degree of Master of Arts in the Humanities in Spring 2026.
Taken together, successful applicants have represented 49 states and have arrived at the College with experience in the industries of art, mathematics, science, engineering, psychology and criminology.
They arrive at Ralston College after having graduated from a variety of universities, including Yale and Columbia. The class that will graduate in Spring 2025 includes a lawyer, a classical trumpeter, a mathematician, an architect, a filmmaker, a horse breaker, a prospective Navy SEAL, an aspiring veterinarian, a computer scientist, and a textile entrepreneur, among many others.
Following graduation, students from Ralston College have secured full-time positions in the realms of academia, the arts, technology, business, media, publishing, marketing, medicine and law.
About Ralston College
Founded in 2010, Ralston College has been authorized for operation and awarded degree-granting powers by the State of Georgia.
It is also seeking accreditation from the New England Commission of Higher Education and was authorized on November 16th, 2023 to publish the following statement:
“The New England Commission of Higher Education has determined that Ralston College is eligible to proceed with an application for candidacy for accreditation within two years. A determination of eligibility is not candidacy or accreditation, nor does it indicate a likelihood of eventual accreditation.
"Questions about eligibility and the accreditation process should be directed to the President of the Commission.”
To date, Ralston College’s podcasts and onlinelectures –also available for free– have reached millions.
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