Robert Frost card art from Lost Chapters (Cobalt, Character) — Card art: Robert Frost

Robert Frost: Cobalt Character

Robert Frost (1874 to 1963) was an American poet who won four Pulitzer Prizes. In 1961 he became the first poet to take part in a presidential inauguration, reciting "The Gift Outright" from memory at John F. Kennedy's swearing-in after the sun's glare blocked his prepared poem.

Cost: 5 crystals
Type: Character · Thinker
Power / Health: 3 / 5
Color: Cobalt (Thinkers & Dreamers)
Rarity: Rare
Set: Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)

On play: search your deck for a Location.

Rural philosopher-poet whose contemplations on snowy woods and diverging paths captured America's reflective spirit.

Real history

The real history

Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco. He enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1892 and later attended Harvard, but he never earned a degree. His first published poem appeared in 1894 in a magazine called The Independent. In 1895 he married Elinor White, who had shared top honors with him in their high school class.

For years his poetry earned little, and he tried farming in New Hampshire. In 1912 he moved to England, where he published his first two books, A Boy's Will in 1913 and North of Boston in 1914. He returned to the United States in 1915 and went on to live and teach in Massachusetts and Vermont.

His honors piled up. He won four Pulitzer Prizes, served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1958 and 1959, and received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1962.

Frost is also remembered for a famous moment in 1961. At the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, he became the first poet to take part in a presidential inauguration. He had written a new poem for the occasion, but the glare of the winter sun made the page hard to read, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson's attempt to shield it did not help. Frost put the paper aside and recited "The Gift Outright," a poem he had written in 1941, from memory.

Robert Frost died in Boston on January 29, 1963.

Sources

Robert Frost, Academy of American Poets (Poets.org)
John F. Kennedy, Robert Frost, and Washington College, Miller Library, Washington College

Checked against these sources on October 3, 2026. Spot a mistake? Report an error. How we check facts.

Game lore (invented)

In the game's story

In the game's invented story, Robert Frost comes upon a fork in a path in the Deckle Wilds and stands there a long time before taking the less traveled branch. It leads him to Elfie Layloft's ranger post at the edge of the forest. He takes up a small farm nearby, mends walls, keeps a few apple trees and writes poems about the forest, though he says he does not plan to stay in Marginalia forever.

In Lost Chapters' frame story, history's heroes fall into an invented world called Marginalia. That story is fiction; the history on this page is real.

How the card plays

Robert Frost costs 5 crystals and is a 3/5 Cobalt Thinker. When he enters play, search your deck for a Location. That makes him a card-finder with a sturdy body attached: a 5-health Thinker is hard for most early attackers to remove.

Decide before you play him which Location your deck needs most. Writers Convention Writers Convention gives your Thinkers +2/+2 and draws you a card each turn, so Frost himself becomes a 5/7. NASA NASA draws a card at the end of your turn. Red, White, & Blue Red, White, & Blue is a cheap Location that adds +0/+1 to every character you control. Because Frost costs 5, plan your crystals so you can play the Location you fetch in the same turn or the next.

Playable in decks led by Martin Luther King Jr., Neil Armstrong, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Cobalt.
In the Dr. King starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-BAABAQICAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAQkCCgILAQwBDQIOAg8BEAIRARICEwIUAhUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAEdAR4B3v4
In the Armstrong starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-AQABAQECAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAgkCCgILAQwBDQIOAQ8BEAERARICEwIUARUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAIdAR4BfQK1eQ
A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.

Questions about Robert Frost

How many Pulitzer Prizes did Robert Frost win?

Four. He also served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1958 and 1959 and received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1962.

What did Robert Frost read at Kennedy's inauguration?

He recited his 1941 poem "The Gift Outright" from memory. He had written a new poem for the occasion but could not read it in the bright sun glare.

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