“After Apple-Picking” by Robert Frost explores the link between humans and nature through imagery, connotation, and word choice. Frost uses the poem to express his life’s labor, tiredness, and need for rest. In the four stanzas, Frost employs repetition, imagery, and contrast to explore nostalgia and feeling.
The poem begins with a ladder “sticking through a tree/ Towards Heaven still.” Aspiring “towards Heaven still” creates a sense of labor. Later, a barrel suggests toil, completing the vision of working in an orchard: woods, ladder, and barrel. Slogging toward paradise emphasizes that life is full of hard work that pays off (Frost 1). From the first to the final sentence, the poem has a connotation. The apple represents Frost’s life, and plucking apples represents living and doing those things. Frost’s emotions rise when he realizes he’s finished apple picking. He’s tired and longs for sleep. The poem’s connotative meaning establishes these emotions since it is a metaphor for life and its hardships. Words are used to create a dreamlike mood in the poem’s center. “I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight,” Frost writes, conveying sorrow, desperation, and helplessness. Frost’s dreamlike vision of “magnified apples appear and disappear” conveys calm. Frost’s view of unending apples is beautiful and exhausting.
Frost used the “nightmarish” dream portion in the middle of the poem to contrast the previous half, which was heavy from hard work. The front depicts the poem saying that he “cannot rub the strangeness from [his] sight” (12), but the dreamlike portion represents tranquility and respite (Frost 1). The poem’s significance lies in this section’s acceptance of life. This dreamlike portion shows Frost’s acceptance of his life and work. Frost’s imagery, meaning, and word choice express the intricacy of life and the labor that comes with it while offering a glimpse into the feelings experienced while working hard. Frost uses repetition, imagery, and contrast to create a deep emotional universe. The “nightmarish dream section” helps him understand life, completing his examination of the poem.
Frost’s poem “After Apple-Picking” is a metaphor for his life and labor. Frost portrays tiredness, longing, and serenity in the poem. Frost’s poem employs repetition, imagery, and contrast to convey his message. Frost’s own experiences and man-nature ties are evident in this poem. Frost finds calm, acceptance, and relief in his life and works in the poem’s “nightmarish dream section.”
Dang Chen’s piece explores Frost’s existential dilemma in the poem. He emphasizes Frost’s struggle between “seeming” and “being,” suggesting that despite his accomplishments, he is still searching for something. Frost conveys these sensations unfathomably, awe-inspiringly through imagery, word choice, and connotation. Frost’s “nightmarish” dreamlike segment depicts his inner struggle. Frost has worked hard to fulfill his ambitions, as shown by the “magnified apples” scene, but he still feels an emptiness he cannot explain (Frost 1). This suggests that no amount of fruit can satisfy his existential crisis. Chen calls this Frost’s “true nature of life,” “so much more than just harvesting and gathering” (Chen 60). Frost’s imagery and poetry’s connotation accurately depict his inner conflict between “seeming” and “being.” Chen’s examination shows Frost’s need for something beyond work and achievement. Frost’s word choice conveys his need and desire to understand his existence. The poem’s dreamlike portion shows Frost’s inner fragility and perplexity, showing his longing to reconcile with life.
Thus, Frost’s poem examines life’s labor and emotions. Frost communicates to us through the poem, leaving us contemplating our experiences, labors, and being in them. Frost uses repetition, imagery, connotation, and word choice to build a rich world within the poem, revealing his conflict between “seeming” and “being .”Frost’s inner state in After Apple Picking is stunning. Frost’s descriptions of the orchard, his tiredness, his need for rest, and the dreamlike portion are remarkable. Some of us battle with the same things. Compared to his other works, “After Apple Picking” stands out for its exquisite depiction of individual labor and investigation of human existential crises. Frost’s vocabulary enlivens the poem’s depths, helping readers understand not only Frost’s mental struggles but also life and its emotions. His poetry also shows the beauty in hard work and gives optimism that something worthwhile will come from it.
Works Cited
Chen, Dang. “Between ‘Seeming’ and ‘Being’: Robert Frost’s Writing of Man’s Existential
The dilemma in ‘After Apple-Picking.'” International Journal on Studies in English
Frost, Robert. “After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44259/after-apple-picking.
https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.20431/2347-3134.0704006.
Language and Literature (IJSELL), vol. 7, no. 4, 2019, pp. 56–60.
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