Frost in translation

Robert Frost's fame may rest on his poems of rural New England, but it's among the red brick mills of Lawrence that he came of age.

Now the foundation that carries on his legacy is working to bring his verse to life in a Lawrence that is quite different from the one in which Frost grew up, where the language spoken in many homes is Spanish, not English. The foundation has commissioned Spanish translations of Frost's poems and emblazoned them next to the English originals on banners in the city this summer.

More than a century ago, Frost's grandfather tried to dissuade him from becoming a poet, insisting that he pursue a practical profession. Yet after writing his first poem at Lawrence High School, Frost was hooked.

The high school newspaper published his early poems, and his graduating class sang a hymn of his verse. Frost had a job lighting lamps in the big workrooms at Malden Mills -- an easy job for the boss's grandson -- and during breaks he snuck off into the mills' tower to read Shakespeare.

In every way, Frost intertwined poetry into his daily life. So it's with the same mission that the Robert Frost Foundation is reconnecting Frost's poetry with Lawrence today.

The foundation, now in the process of reviewing entries to its annual poetry contest and preparing for its annual festival, is drawing on the universality of Frost's poems to teach Lawrence residents -- many of whom speak English as a second language -- the power of poetry.

By organizing poetry readings, recitations, and writing workshops in public schools, the foundation is introducing students to Frost's passion for living and spiritual aspirations, both of which rise above cultural differences.

''Frost hooked into Lawrence High School in a serious way," said foundation director Mark Schorr. ''We are encouraging students in the place where he started to write poetry."

Frost came to Lawrence at age 11 with his mother and sister after his father died of tuberculosis in San Francisco. He lived in and around Lawrence for 15 years, and the city figured largely into his life and development. Aside from beginning to write, he also met his future wife, Elinor White, in high school. The two were co- valedictorians and married three years after graduating in 1892.

The foundation began promoting Frost's connection to Lawrence in 1997, just as Lawrence High School lost accreditation. A group of eight teachers and poets linked up to start a poetry award and workshops. The goal, Schorr said, was to find the poet in every person.

So that his work would reach a larger audience in Lawrence, the foundation commissioned Spanish translations of Frost's poems, since two-thirds of the city's residents are Latino. Over the summer, the bright orange banners billowed in the breeze printed with Frost's poems in both languages.

Rhina Espaillat has been working on the translations for the foundation. She said she wants to bring Frost's work to the attention of people who cannot read his poetry in English. Each translation takes weeks to prepare, and so far, Espaillat has completed 10 poems, with two more in progress.

''I want the translations to sound the way Frost sounds, as if he were talking to you over a fence," she said. Espaillat, who has published nine collections of her own verse, has read the poems at the Frost Foundation and in Newburyport, where she lives.

Frost used poetry to examine large themes in life, like relationships between men and women, and the relationship of man to the natural world.

''There is a kind of approachability and clarity about his work that is just the beginning of something that is far, far more complicated," said Robert Faggen, a professor at Claremont McKenna College in California and the author of ''Robert Frost and the Challenge of Darwin." The poems appear deceptively simple, but offer a deeper sense of psychology and subtle possibility.

The foundation wants local residents and poets to probe their own lives through poetry as Frost did. It seems to be working. The annual poetry contest, which looks for the best poem written in the spirit of Frost, is thriving.

Over the years, the competition has grown to attract aspiring poets from all over the country who vie for the $1,000 prize. Several days a week, Schorr sits in his office reading the dozens of poems arriving by post and e-mail each day.

Almost 200 entries have arrived so far, with 300 more expected by the Sept. 15 deadline. Poets Ted and Anne Deppe will select the winning poem, which will be announced at the ninth annual Robert Frost Festival in late October.

Frost, who won four Pulitzer prizes for his poems, encouraged people all the time to write poetry. Schorr said that as Frost became famous, students hounded him with requests for autographs at college readings, but he told them that ''if you yourself will write a poem, I'll autograph your book."

Like Frost, the foundation is encouraging Lawrence students to put pen to paper. For one project, done a few years ago, students each took a line of Frost's verse to start off their own poem. When Robert Pinsky, the former US poet laureate, arrived for a reading, more than 1,000 poems in homage to Frost hung on the walls.

The foundation has brought other top-notch poets to read in Lawrence, like Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon, introducing students to world-famous writers.

Lou Bernieri, director of the Andover Bread Loaf Writing Workshop and a teacher at Phillips Academy, said learning about language through verse is a great way to strengthen literacy. Students who do a lot of writing improve their standardized test scores. But, more important, ''self-expression through poetry gives people confidence through their voice and ideas," he said.

Bernieri said the work of the Frost Foundation is part of a larger poetry renaissance going on in Lawrence. Movement City, which offers a broad range of programs for the city's youth, offers a weekly poetry class during the school year. The poetry group LETRA hosts weekly open mike nights, inviting anyone to share a poem. Cesar Sanchez Beras, a Lawrence High School teacher and respected Dominican poet, started a poetry workshop several years ago called Tertulia Pedro Mir, for Spanish-language poets. And Soul Kaliber, a Lawrence-based spoken word poetry group, leads school workshops and has performed all over the country.

It's a legacy that would make Frost proud. Schorr points to the poet's lines, ''My object in living is to unite/My avocation and my vocation" to emphasize Frost's goal of weaving verse and life.

''The activities in Lawrence help many align their avocation with their vocation," he said. ''The poetry in life is where poetry comes from."

Guidelines for poem submissions and details about the Robert Frost Festival are available online at www.frostfoundation.org.