Poetry of Robert Frost: “After Apple-Picking” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

Born in California, Robert Frost used his poetic work in After Apple-Picking and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening to communicate to the reader various life concerns that trouble humankind. In this poetry, Frost has significantly qualified in bringing to light the relationship that exists between man and nature. This paper explores several issues in human life, which contradict his decisions, choices, and social relations, and according to Frost, a man is a subject of the natural world that controls how he reasons, acts, and behaves.

Similar concerns have transpired from both poems. It has become evident that one cannot sincerely lie to nature. The natural world seems wiser than the human race. It is for that fact that it is impossible to contradict nature. In the poem After Apple-Picking Frost presents a persona as the one who complies with the rule of nature since he cannot battle it out. After a hardworking day at an apple farm, the persona retires to his bed. It is while he is in a sleeping mood that he confirms that after too much work that leads to the total body exhaustion, nature requires one to sleep (Frost, 2010). He finds it difficult to fight an incoming sleep while trying to figure out how he will sleep or how he is going to dream that night. In a similar case, as a persona travels over his horse through the woods, it dawns on him that in order to fulfill his obligations of beating the vast remaining miles to get home, he has to resist a tempting choice of resting in the woods (Stringer & Robert 12). In this case, the rule of nature has confirmed that if one has to fulfill his objectives in life, he has to be much disciplined and therefore avoid luring moments.

Both poems touch on society and customs. There are certain vices, customs, virtues, and behaviors that are common exercises in most societies. In an apple farm setting, the society does not allow taking to market those apples that fell on the ground. It only requires that the apples that were picked from the tree and directly put into the barren should be considered appropriate for human consumption. Others that struck the earth would find their way to a cider-apple heap even if they did not contract any bruise (Owens 35). According to the second poem, it is against a society norm to stop at a place, where there are no people around. Even a horse is aware of that. When the persona is slowly traversing through the woods, his horse seems troubled and uncomfortable when he acts in such a way like he wants to stop at the woods. The horse shakes its harnessing bells as if there is a mistake, confirming that it was not the ideal place for the persona to stop (Stringer & Robert 22). In a most comprehensive analysis, Frost tries to prove that a man will act in accordance with the adopted custom in his society.

The other concern is dissatisfaction. After a long day of picking apples at the farm, the speaker sounds highly dissatisfied. He has been waiting for a good harvest during that summer, and at that point there are many apples to harvest. In fact, the apples are in excess and he has become tired of picking them. He just confirms his level of dissatisfaction when he starts thinking of too many other good things that will come (Owens 36). The speaker in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening expresses his dissatisfaction when he thinks that his horse will object to his decision to stop at the woods. For this reason, the persona confirms his dissatisfaction with the horse. While that is the case, he appears ungrateful for the reason that the horse has taken him all the way from his departure. The horse that he is dissatisfied with is the same horse that he expects to carry him home. Frost tries to show how people never get satisfied with their lives. He holds to the argument that a man will always be dissatisfied even if he achieves whatever goals in his life.

Loneliness and isolation appears to be another area of concern that is evident as the speaker traverses through the woods and is at the center of a lonely place, where there is no human being. He is far much away from home, a factor that heightens his loneliness. The situation gets compounded by the incoming darkness and the cold that comes with the falling snow. In the poem After Apple-Picking the persona is alone in bed fighting with an incoming sleep and he is all alone (Owens 37). He is seen as one who is in deep thoughts about life. It would have been lively for him if he was not alone in bed. Perhaps, someone accompanying him would have saved the persona from the many thoughts. Frost has clearly communicated to the reader how nature complicates loneliness (Frost 2010). While the persona is fighting the feeling of loneliness for being miles away from home, nature heightens this isolation by making the snowfall at that time. The weather has become too cold for the persona and there is an incoming darkness.

A lot of contraries drive Frost’s poetry. This is especially seen when he embarks on bringing in tension between life-force and death wish. It becomes clear that the speaker in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening would rather starve and suffer from the loneliness and coldness at the woods. He prefers to be in the woods rather than at the village (Frost 2009). It sets the reader to think that the persona is either a wanted man in the village or there are feuds in the village. In this case, Frost has qualified in identifying a compromising instance in life, where an individual has to choose between deadly forces.

Most importantly, nature in this case has not been fair with the persona. While he would have wanted to stay away from home because of some reasons, it makes the situation out there challenging and unfriendly. Nature would have been a little fair if it did not make the woods be that lonely. While the persona on the apple farm tries to fight dissatisfaction in his bed, he remembers the day as the one that was very tiresome. For this reason, this could not have allowed him to pick many apples on the firm. He had always anticipated picking a lot of apples come in summer (Stringer & Robert 54). However, nature could have allowed him to do so as it made him exhausted. For this reason, it has appeared that he either has to work with a lot of tiredness in order to pick a lot of apples or rest and not pick a lot of apples. Working while still too much tired can affect health of the persona and thus lead to death.

In conclusion, it is evident that man should be in a position to comply with the rule of nature. Failing to do so, he is likely to suffer a lot from his ignorance since nature is likely to make his life even more challenging. From the two poems, one can deduce that human beings are subject to dissatisfaction, isolation, loneliness, behaviors and customs. The paper has provided an explanation of similar concerns depicted by Frost in his poetry along with the contraries, which drive his thoughts, decisions, and concerns.

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