Blog #2 (ROBERT FROST early poems)

Robert Frost was obviously intrigued by nature and transcendentalism. In the first poem “Mowing” Frost’s personification of objects is made obvious, as well as his enjoyment of solitude and loneliness. In each of his poems, a single character is presented with an aspect of nature that he is forced to think about in a deeper way. In “After Apple-Picking” Frost presents a character who had a long day’s work who is tired of his apple picking job. He is sleepy, but believes this sleep has a deeper meaning than just a regular potential night sleep. He seems to have a sense of incompleteness, maybe due to a failure of apple harvesting, and is upset about this. Although you could look at this poem literally, apples often represent knowledge and could be a symbol of a deeper meaning. In the “Wood Pile” again there is a single character presented with a dilemma in nature causing him to consider a deeper meaning. The character is walking through a frozen swamp and considers going back to his home, but becomes immersed into the idea of wandering far from home by following a bird. In each poem the characters are presented with dilemmas in nature, and are alone. Frost surrounds his poetry within these confinements and presents new human decisions concerning the new nature situations.