The poem 'After Apple Picking' by Robert Frost is one the most celebrated and widely read poems of the Romantic Period. The poem was drawn from Frosts' own life, his recurrent losses, everyday tasks, and his loneliness.
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Introduction
Poem Analysis Analyse one of Frost's poems in detail. How does this particular poem conform to the idea that Frost is a poet in the Romantic Tradition? The poem 'After Apple Picking' by Robert Frost is one the most celebrated and widely read poems of the Romantic Period. The poem was drawn from Frosts' own life, his recurrent losses, everyday tasks, and his loneliness. After Apple Picking is the poem that links Frost heavily to the Romantic Tradition as he follows the traditional Romantic model, in which he displays a number of Romantic qualities, mainly a connection with the transcendent and spiritual, Individualism, Primitivism and Nature as a source of reflection and guidance. A characteristic of Romanticism was the belief that emotions and relationships were not just important, but were the very currency of life (Individualism). ...read more.
Middle
Romantic literature tends to have a theme of favouring the pastoral over the urban way of living. After Apple Picking is set in a rural background of a farm which is a critical aspect in determining that Frost is a poet of the Romantic Tradition. The symbolism of the 'great harvest' as the goals and dreams of the man links it back to the Primitivism and the experiences of the common man. The other example of "Empty Barrels" symbolise Frosts regrets at having not fulfilled all of his lives dreams and ambitions. This primitive state is a common occurrence in many Romantic period poems and the emphasis on rural life adds to the proof that After Apple Picking and Frost are part of the Romantic Tradition. ...read more.
Conclusion
Romantic poems also had a connection with the transcendent and links to the spiritual. Frost makes certain biblical allusions to Jacob's ladder and heaven shown in the quote "My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still". This is used to emphasise the need to connect with the transcendent and the divine. Frost connects with the divine while creating a positive connotation to nature through the apples, which are a gift from God. Their has been a constant battle as to whether Robert Frost is indeed a Romantic poet. This poem conforms that Robert Frost is a Romantic poet as the many characteristics of the Romantic Tradition have greatly been expressed in his work and especially in After Apple Picking as shown in the many examples. The poem includes many of these characteristics and ultimately "it depicted emotional matter, in an imaginative form". ...read more.
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