Robert Frost in Voices and Visions - Essay Example

In the film, Frost is discussing with other poets and literary critics. This discussion brings up details regarding the work of Robert Frost. Being so, the paper will pick up a number of quotations made in this Voices and Visions film. These quotations will help in understanding such things as the style used by the poet, the theme identified by the poet, the subject chosen by the poet and the influences that Frost’s work has on other writers. Although the poet is described in Voices and Visions film as being “unknown and virtually unpublicized,” he wrote his poems in parables making the “wrong people” to be unable to understand and get “saved” by them, and he thus became a very influential poet in America.

The film further highlights Frost’s influence through the clip that reveals the presentation made by Frost. During this presentation, Frost receives a lot of ululations, cheers and claps from his audience. Consequently, Frost’s influence cannot be discussed without mentioning the poetry style or styles that he applied to make his poems distinct and influential. In order to bring out the poetry styles employed by this poet as discussed in the film, we can consider at least one of the poems that are captured in the film.

One such poem is the one titled “After Apple Picking.” . he deeper meaning of this act of apple picking, however, comes when we consider what Heaney described concerning “Toward heaven…” consequently; apple picking takes place when we are moving toward heaven. Thus, the deeper meaning of apple picking is the hard work we engage ourselves on our way toward heaven. Heaven in this case is also symbolic of death. When we die, we rest. According to the poet, death comes after apple picking.

In other words, after working hard on earth, we have to die eventually. Another from of symbolism used by the poet in this poem is that of the sweet scent that the farmer experiences as he continues picking the apples. This sweet scent is symbolic of satisfaction that one gets while working in the farm. The farm in this case symbolizes the earth. Therefore, the sweet scent in the farm is symbolic of the self-satisfaction that a person gets when he is working hard on earth. This satisfaction mainly comes as a result of the singular fact that eventually, the person knows that he has done something that can sustain his life.

Even when the farmer has not completed his job, Frost says he has “…had too much of apple-picking” and is now “…overtired of the great harvest I desired” (Voices and Visions). This is symbolic. It means that there are those things that the speaker has accomplished in his life. At the same time, there are those other remaining things that he is yet to accomplish. From this, the things he has accomplished have exhausted his energy and he feels like resting and being “…done with apple-picking now” (Voices and Visions).

The speaker though agrees that he “desired” apple picking. However, it reaches a time when he wants to stop doing this work. In other words, this means he wants to cease living since