DSpace at Agnes Scott College

Agnes Scott College student newspaper for the 2001 calendar year. Not all issues published during the year are included in this file

Students of Agnes Scott College

The Profile

Agnes Scott College

Agnes Scott College Dalton Gallery

Agnes Scott College McCain Library

Agnes Scott College Bradley Observatory

Bullock, Mary Brown

Freeman, Brad

Byrd, Mary

JAB15


Robert Frost at Agnes Scott! As former President Wallace Alston noted, "This always meant telephone calls begging for tickets; an overflow crowd for the lecture; interviews to be arranged; faculty 
members in our home to welcome Robert Frost back to Agnes Scott and 
to listen while he talked on and on of poets, politics, trips that he had 
made since his last visit, funny little incidents or anecdotes that seemed 
worth telling." 
Frost's relationship with Agnes Scott began in 1935 when he was 
invited to lecture at the College by Emma May Laney, associate professor 
of English. He returned in 1940 and 1945, and then every year until his 
death in 1963, which occurred during the very week reserved for his 
annual visit. 
These visits took place during the last 10 days of January when 
Frost was on his way to Miami. He moved freely about the campus, 
becoming part of the academic rhythm of the College. 
McCain Library houses what Frost called the best collection of 
"Frostiana" outside of Amherst College. This collection began under the 
direction of the librarian, Edna Byers, when Professor Laney donated 
autographed first editions sent her by Frost. Also in the library is the 1958 
Frost portrait by Professor Ferdinand Warren, about which Frost told 
Warren, "You have more of me in that than there is of me in me." 
This love affair between Robert Frost and Agnes Scott College 
established the foundation for challenging exchanges between the cam- 
pus community and a host of visiting writers and scholars through the 
years. The Frost statue located in the Alumnae Garden and dedicated in 
April, 2001, symbolizes the poet's continuing presence at Agnes Scott 
College as well as the College's abiding emphasis on writing and the 
power of the word. 

Not A Lovable Old New England Poet 
Well built, big chested, rugged looking, with white tousled hair and blue eyes, our friend would arrive wearing blue canvas rubber- 
soled shoes, a suit that he didn't bother to press (and who caredl), an 
overcoat much too heavy for Georgia on ordinary winter days and a soft 
hat that usually sat puckishly on the side or back of his head. 
Robert Frost was at his social best in a small group of people 
with whom he was at ease. He was a remarkable conversationalist. Of 
course, he did most of the talking. His interests were diverse, his memory 
inexhaustible, his allusions and analogies both pertinent and puzzling, 
his phrasing homely and often cryptic and his wit sometimes sly, often 
subtle, sometimes delightfully "corny." 
His conversation was often quixotic, paradoxical and enigmatic. 
He was independent in his judgments, quick in repartee and impatient 
with questions that he regarded as silly or impertinent. 
If you took this man for a kindly, lovable old New England poet 
whose charm lay in his simplicity, you were in for a shock. His mind was 
subtle, nimble and resilient and his personality as complex as any I have 
ever known. 
WALLACE M. ALSTON, PRESIDENT, 195 1-1973 

That Last Frost of 16 2 
The craggy winter-locked old man loomed over the podium and cracked his crusty jokes with self-mocking (and self-congratulatory) 
gusto: "Better to go down dignified/ With boughten friendship at your 
side/ Than none at all. Provide, provide!" He paused and then added with 
a cackle and a bit of a snort, "Or somebody else will provide for ya!" 
We veterans of these readings giggled dutifully; those who were 
hearing his tag line for the first time, grinned with the dis-ease the threat 
provoked. We responded to the old man's acerbic pontifications with 
affection, clapped warmly and laughed with the relief of living the rare 
evening that was more than well-spent. 
Some of us, members of the graduating class of 1962, flushed 
with the pleasure of special relationship. We had enjoyed this occasion 
for four years, and we knew we were in the presence of poetry. We were 
proprietary-even smug! He was, in these moments, "Our Poet." 
That was the last of these events, for in the winter of the next 
year, Robert Frost stopped in the snowy woods and stayed. I remember 
feeling bad for the senior class following mine-and for the College. 
That relationship with Frost was a defining characteristic of the College. 
It was in the very rhythms of the place. 
Robert Frost energized Agnes Scott in perpetuity with his 
immense, earth-rich spirit. Doubtless, in 1962 and for all the years of his 
annual visits, he was the most evident reason that students and area 
residents alike recognized the College as a place that provided quality 
encounters with the great and the talented. In on-going tribute to Our 
Poet, it is similar experiences for students and friends-opportunities for 
living life with poetry-that the College continues to provide, provide. 
LINDA L. HUBERT '62, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH 

and AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE 
Conversations with Robert Frost 
There was always a session with the students who came together, usually at the Alstons' home. They had been reading some of Frost's 
poems and brought questions about them. Most of all, they just wanted to 
hear him talk. Not infrequently he delighted in creating a little academic 
mischief by questioning some of the interpretations of his poems, which 
the students offered; he assumed they would take his remarks back to 
their English classes. They did. Some of their teachers used the occasion 
to remind that the poet is not always the best critic of his poems. 
A special night was set aside for the faculty to meet with him, 
always at the Alstons'. Faculty members would gather in what was then 
the sunroom and take their seats in chairs arranged in circular fashion- 
almost no one missed those gatherings. Dr. Alston would bring in Frost, 
seat him in a chair of the circle, and turn to him with, "Mr. Frost, here is 
your faculty." These were always his words of introduction, and they 
carry their own force-affirming his academic connection to the College. 
These get-togethers were called "Conversations with Robert Frost," but 
that is a slight misnomer. Frost liked to do most of the talking. 
MARGARET W. PEPPERDENE, PROFES~OR EMERITA OF ENGLISH 

Memorable Evenings of Pedagogy and Poetry 
The highlight of every Frost visit was the night of the public reading. The whole campus and the entire Decatur/ Atlanta community were 
caught up in the occasion. Students would begin to line up outside Gaines 
(the line eventually winding through the campus) by 4 o'clock in the 
afternoon. They had all been issued tickets, but got in line early to get 
the best seats-middle section, down front, right under Frost's podium. 
By starting time, the hall was packed, the stage filled, even an auxiliary 
hall upstairs pressed into use. 
Frost never gave a bad performance. At the start, he would adjust 
the lamp on the podium and fiddle with the microphone. He would talk 
for a while on any subject on his mind. During these opening remarks, 
which the students called "Mr. Frost's nuggets," he often made some of 
his most memorable comments on poetry or people or politics. Then, he 
would begin to "say" his poems-a mixture of the old and the familiar 
and the new, finished but not yet published, ones. About midway through 
the reading, he would lean out over the podium, telling students he was 
going to say a "new" poem for them, one he was in the act of making. He 
would instruct them to get out their pencils and paper, which they duti- 
fully did-as they always came prepared for this moment. Still leaning 
over the podium as if watching their actions, he would say the poem 
carefully, pausing frequently, and slowly repeating the lines so that they 
could take them down. 
That "lesson" of the night done, he returned to his reading. 
Through it all, he kept the beat of the poetry, making sure that his audi- 
ence knew and felt the rhythm. Those were memorable evenings of 
pedagogy and poetry. 
MARGARET \Y/_ PEPPERDENE, PROFESSOR EMERITA OF ENGLISH 

"Acquainted with the Night" 
I nscribed on the Frost statue in Agnes Scott's Alumnae Garden is a poem particularly applicable to the poet's visits. President Alston noted: 
"One of the unforgettable recollections of Robert Frost's visits to our home 
was his habit of going alone for night walks. When the conversation in 
the library had run its course, the members of the family had retired, the 
late show on television completed, several glasses of 7-UpT'" consumed, 
our friend would put on his coat and hat and start out into the dark alone. 
He wanted it that way; he asked only for a key and to be let alone." 
Frost introduced the poem in his 1962 lecture-his last at Agnes 
Scott-saying," ... it's about my being an endless walker." 
Acquainted with the Night 
l have been one acquainted with the night. 
I have walked out in rain-and back in rain. 
I have outwalked the furthest city light. 
I have looked down on the saddest city lane. 
I have passed by the watchman on his beat 
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. 
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet 
When far away an interrupted cry 
Came over houses from another street, 
But not to call me back or say good-by; 
And further still at an earthly height, 
One luminary clock against the sky 
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. 
I have been one acquainted with the night. 
; - ' .... ~ ~ . 
. . :,· ~T • 
:-.:~~r ~-- . ·- •. 
B,enef aJtors 
RoberLF~ost statue Susan Camble . 
. ~:s~,'a;h~rt7S:a~d,Bruc; A Smath~-~s 
·,• · ,•. ·•.::"· \ .. 
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:-:.u'di::I,-•:. "About t/Je sculptor· 
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.TheRobert.Frost sculpture in the 
'.: -, ·: ¥• - ;; • •. .>•. ·: 
Alumnae Carden is one of 21 such 
Ffost sculptures created by George 
W. Lundeen. Lundeen received his 
13.A. froni,Hastings College and 
his M.F.A from the University of 
Illinois and studi~d at the Academia. 
de Bel_!<'; Arte in Italy: Tlie recipient 
of ,{umerous awards. and-honors, 
he-was named '.'Distinguished 
Nebraskan" ii, 1995 .  Two additional . . . 
Lundeen sculptures reside in Decatur 
on the Co1.1rtho(1se Square..", 
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•froii1the writi11gsfa,id:speeches of. 
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Wallaceilstofi;'pres°fd~1;t of. th~- 
College' from 1951 to 
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197f-idrja 
Hai~ley Byers,'·librarian from 'l 932 ·. 
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Robert Frost and Agnes Scott College

Agnes Scott College Department of Physics and Astronomy

Bradley Observatory Plaza diagram

Agnes Scott College Writing Center

The Paper Chase

Agnes Scott College Office of Communications

Agnes Scott College Office of Public Relations

Campus Connection

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Agnes Scott College yearbook of 2000. Original senior pictures were blocked out and replaced with new due to corrections

2000 Silhouette Volume 96

Agnes Scott College Office of Publications

Agnes Scott Alumnae Magazine

Agnes Scott College Department of Public Safety

Playing It Safe: A guide of rules, regulations and safety tips for Agnes Scott College students, faculty and staff.

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