A Rogers Group Poem by Robert Frost

A Rogers Group

by Robert Frost

How young and unassuming

They waited in the street,

With babies in their arms

And baggage at their feet.

A trolley car they hailed

Went by with clanging gong,

Before they guessed the corner

They waited on was wrong.

And no one told them so

By way of traveler's aid,

No one was so far touched

By the Rogers Group they made.

I last blogged about Rogers Groups and the sculptor John Rogers more than a year ago at this link:  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/have-you-ever-seen-rogers-group.html   These large statuettes were popular during the Victorian period, and were very sentimental and patriotic.   They were immensely popular not just in New England, where they were designed and manufactured, but all over the United States.  Each figurine featured groups of several people posed in scenes from American history, literature or popular culture.

As you read this poem by Robert Frost, can't you just imagine the street scene?  A young family, or perhaps a group of immigrants, waiting on a street corner with all their trunks and children.  After looking at photos of many, many Rogers Groups I'm surprised it wasn't the subject of one of his statuettes.  This Rogers Group sculpture was actually found in the Robert Frost house, and is now on display in the museum in the barn at the Robert Frost farm in Derry, New Hampshire.   The figurine is called "Coming to the Parson", dates from 1870, and it shows a young couple approaching a minister to discuss their upcoming wedding plans.

Robert Frost Farm
122 Rockingham Road
Derry, New Hampshire
603-432-3091
website: http://www.robertfrostfarm.org/


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Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo