Frost Poetry Vandals Sentenced to Poetry Lectures

Posted on June 12, 2008

The teenagers who held a party in the historic home of Robert Frost in Vermont will finally face their punishment. That terrible punishment, reports the WSJ Law Blog, is merely two sessions of study with Frost biographer and professor Jay Parini.Parini is the author of Robert Frost: A Life.

For their transgressions, each was found guilty, mostly of trespassing, and sentenced to two sessions of study with the Frost biographer, poet, and professor Jay Parini - a "punishment," notes The New Yorker, for which Middlebury students normally pay a hefty sum. The prosecutor, John Quinn, told the magazine, "I guess I was thinking that if these teens had a better understanding of who Robert Frost was and his contribution to our society, that they would be more respectful of other people's property in the future."
For the first class, Parini reportedly turned to Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." Parini told the students: "Believe me, if you're a teenager, you're always in the damned woods. Literally ... And metaphorically you're in the woods, in your life. Look at you here, in court diversion! If that isn't 'in the woods,' what the hell is 'in the woods'? You're in the woods!"

We hope the teen vandals learn something from being forced to study poetry but this really isn't enough punishment. Is it really fair to young students who actually want to learn poetry that vandals get the lectures they would pay to hear? You can find more discussion of the vandal's punishment on PrawfsBlawg and About.com.