Toughing it out

New England’s most famous poet, Robert Frost (1874-1963), was a brilliant ironist. He spent the largest part of his life in New Hampshire and Vermont.

“One reason a lot of us live here is probably that surviving and flourishing in this climate is such a good, moral thing to do. It’s decadent to be warm all the time.’’

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“What New England is, is a state of mind, a place where dry humor and perpetual disappointment blend to produce an ironic pessimism that folks from away find most perplexing.’’


— Willem Lange (born 1935), an East Montpelier, Vt.-based writer and former building contractor. His weekly column, “A Yankee Notebook”, appears in several New England newspapers.

East Montpelier, Vt., town offices

— Photo by Magicpiano

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Light reveals truth

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David Warsh: Looking back at a big U.S. mistake and a great success