Common Themes in Robert Frosts Poetry - Essay Example

Common Themes in Robert Frost’s Poetry Robert Frost’s poetry is known for its strong thematic content highlighted by clever use of imagery. A strong humanitarian outlook is common to most of his poems. The strong ‘I’ figure in each of these poems makes them significant in terms of studying the poet as it is clear that his own opinions and attitudes are reflected in these poems in some ways. Other than the focus on the narratorial voice, this paper will also look into the ways images and symbols work in Frost’s poetry, taking these three poems as representative of his style.

“After Apple-Picking” does not follow any particular rhyming scheme although it largely follows an iambic pentameter form. Lines vary in length accentuating various thematic assertions of the poet and sometimes serving to reinforce the lulling effect of the poem. In “After Apple-Picking”, Frost presents the reader with a seemingly simple picture of a farmer tired out from picking apples, taking a moment’s rest. The opening image of the poem is that of a ladder resting against a tree with a barrel underneath with apples in it and a few apples still left on the boughs of the tree.

The farmer picking these apples says he is tired and done with apple-picking. The entire picture is one of quiet repose. However, there are a few evocative images and words used that hint at a deeper and more unsettling meaning. ‘Heaven’ is evoked in the second line, establishing the idea that the ladder is leading up to heaven, i.e., above lies the spiritual realm and all that is left below – the barrel, the earth and of course, the farmer/narrator himself – are part of the more worldly realm.

The poem then quickly transforms into something much more meaningful and mystical. The farmer’s feeling tired from apple-picking is not merely a temporary, physical exhaustion but is symbolical of a human being’s constant exertions at life that never seem to end. Just as the barrel remains unfilled and the farmer’s ladder remains pointing towards heaven, humans too find themselves not any closer to heaven and with their experiences seeming futile and incomplete. A similar sense of mild despair or pessimism is found in “Fire and Ice” also.

“Fire and Ice” is a short poem that also follows an iambic rhyming scheme. Here too, like in “After Apple-Picking”, there is a surface narrative and there are many layers of deeper meaning. At first glance, the poem seems to be a discussion on how the world may end – whether in fire or ice. However, as the ambiguous ending hints at, this is not a simple question. Frost’s use of “some say” is ironic as questions of such magnitude are not really meant for casual conversation as the “some say” suggests.

People discuss matters of such significance in a light vein and this is what Frost seems to be satirizing. This ironic note is also noticeable in “After Apple-Picking” in its structure of enjambment and framed segments, which reveal to the reader that there is more to the poem than is apparent at first glance (Reisman --). The “world ending” may refer to not just the actual apocalypse, but of the end of a human life also. Frost seems to be referring to how the coldness of hatred that isolates humans from each other, as well as the potentially hurtful nature of desire, which in many philosophies, lies at the heart of all sorrow – are often responsible for how lives end without peace and satisfaction.

This use of a surface-level story to mask subterranean meaning is also apparent in “Mending Wall.” The extended metaphor of the fence that separates the neighbors again stands for