John North Editor & Publisher

In the aftermath, I am itching to know which of the following is the truth:

• Did the kids who broke into Robert Frost’s house know they had chosen the renowned poet’s quarters and thought it would be a real blast to throw a party there?

• Or did they choose the house at random, never realizing that it was Frost’s house?

• Or, the final possibility (and most likely, in my view, given the lowly status of poetry in this country), did they know they were breaking into some famous writer’s house, but had never heard of Frost or read his works?

The ransacking at the Homer Noble Farm, which is a national historic landmark, was described by police as substantial, exceeding $5,000.

The home, which is furnished and open in the summer, is located on a dead-end road in Ripton, Vt. Police believe it served as the site for an underage drinking party attended by as many as 50 people. The incident happened sometime on Dec. 28-29.

A window was broken to gain entry, after which the intruders demolished tables, chairs, pictures, light fixtures and dishes. Wicker furniture and dressers were smashed and burned in a fireplace, presumably to warm the unheated structure.

Empty beer bottles and cans and cellophane believed to have been used to hold marijuana also were found. The vandals vomited in the living room and discharged two fire extinguishers inside the building.

Fortunately, a cabin on the property where Frost is said to have done some of his writing was untouched.

As of early this week, no arrests had been made, but police said they have tracked down some partygoers and believe they are minors.

The damage was discovered on Dec. 29 by a hiker who notified police at Middlebury College, which maintains the site. The property’s caretaker had last been there the day before, police said.

Frost, a celebrated poet known for such verse as “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” died in 1963.

Indeed, no less of a literary luminary than T.S. Eliot judged him “the most eminent, the most distinguished Anglo-American poet now living,” and he is the only writer in history to have been awarded four Pulitzer Prizes. He was one of American literature’s towering figures, with his poems among the best-loved.

It is particularly appropriate to cite Eliot in the Frost home-trashing because it was Eliot who wrote what some critics have declared to be the quintessential poem of the 20th century, “The Waste Land” (1922).

In my view, the ransacking illustrates what Eliot was warning us about — stupidity running amok in a land where nothing grows and there is no meaning.

The incident surely is as far away as imaginable from what Frost was trying to convey with his warm and deeply felt poetry.

For the contribution he has made to American culture, Frost deserves better than to have his home trashed by some loonies who should be required to read the entire works of (arguably) America’s most beloved poet during their jail time.

 I personally have long enjoyed the works of Frost, since I first encountered them in elementary school.

Besides “The Road Not Taken,” this time of year I especially enjoy Frost’s 1922 classic, “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening,” which follows.

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John North, publisher and editor of the Daily Planet, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .