Robert Frost's father was a reporter who wanted to be a politician. He often drank too much alcohol and became angry. Robert was the victim of his anger. He was 11 when his father died. His mother tried to protect him from his father's anger. Some people think she protected him too much. As a child, Robert was afraid of the dark. All his life he suffered from imaginary sicknesses. Frost's mother was from New England. After her husband died, she moved back there. She supported her children by teaching school. Yet she got more enjoyment from reading and writing poetry. Frost finished high school in 1891. He and a girl, Elinor White, had the best record of the students graduating that year. He married Elinor three years later. She rejected him at first, but finally agreed to marry him. This rejection led to a lack of trust in their marriage. It made Frost say this: "I could lose everything and not be surprised."