Poetic Justice (Groan)
Robert Frost, circa 1960.
Source: Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesThink twice about throwing a party in that abandoned farmhouse down the road... you might end up in poetry class. In Ripton, Vermont, a bunch of teenagers threw a rager at Homer Noble Farm, site of an unheated farmhouse on a dead-end road. Sounds like a typical teenage stunt, right? Atypically, the farmhouse, now owned by Middlebury College, is where Robert Frost spent his summers for more than two decades. So, yeah. It's kind of special. The kids (and a few adults) trashed the place -- destroyed antique furniture and china, carpets stained with puke and urine -- and 28 ended up charged with trespassing. Most of them entered pleas, trading their sentences for a combination of fines, community service, and poetry classes. Apparently, prosecutor John Quinn believes in (wait for it... wait for it...) poetic justice. Frost biographer and Middlebury professor Jay Parini agreed to teach the vandals two lessons on Frost's poetry, and made it relevant to the illicit revelers. Today, he joins us to tell us exactly how he did that.
Tags: Jay Parini | Middlebury College | Robert Frost | party | vandalism
1:56 PM ET | 07- 3-2008 | permalink
