Human Nature

Nature in itself is like its own author it creates symbols naturally and can also set moods. Robert Frost’s After Apple Picking is about how it is human nature to take a break. Frost’s Mending Wall is about how it is normal for us humans to be guarded. These poems are similar in that they both use symbols and nature to reveal the speaker’s feelings of regret and security however; they are different in that their overall messages are not the same. Frost’s feelings of regret and security are conveyed through symbols and nature in both of these poems. In After Apple Picking Frost talks about his regrets as apples such as the “barrel that [he] didn’t fill” (After Apple Picking 3) which means that he didn’t finish doing something. He also said that that there were “apples [he] didn’t pick up” (5) which were opportunities not taken advantage of. When frost says he is “done with apple-picking (6) it shows that he is done with working or what he is doing because his regrets keep coming back to him. A way that nature shows his feelings are how this poem takes place at the end of apple picking which is end of fall beginning of winter. In winter animals hibernate and take long rests which frost is contemplating or if he is “just [feeling] some human sleep” (42) coming on. This means that he wants his feelings of regret to go away but wondering if it is humanly normal to do so. In Mending Wall the wall itself symbolizes security. When Frost says that he and his neighbor “keep the wall between [them] as [they] go” (Mending Wall 15) suggests that they both want the feeling of security between them. A way Frost’s uses nature in this poem is when he says “spring is the mischief in me” (28). This reveals that his feelings are caused by the nature of spring which sprouts his questioning of his neighbor to see if he feels the feeling of security as well. In conclusion both these Robert Frost’s poems both use intricate symbols and nature to describe the reader’s specific feelings. Each of these poems by Frost portrays its each individual manifestation. In “After Apple Picking” the message is that we all need a break and its human nature to do so. The way frost says that a “Long sleep…{is} coming on” (41) suggests that he needs a break. He then contemplates if it is a long sleep like a wood chuck or if it is just going to be a short sleep like a human has. This means that he is unsure if his break is going to be extensive or brief. In “Mending Wall” the message is that it is just human nature to be guarded. The way frost uses the wall as a symbol for this throughout the whole poem can testify for this. The way Frost says “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” (1) shows how he is saying every human likes a wall because everyone is guarded. Clearly Frost is saying in these poems that it is human nature to feel secure and relax every once in a while. Frost used symbols in these poems to suggest the speaker’s feelings. But the messages of that their human natures to be guarded and to take a break once in while are different. Frost says that these things are just human nature but do you really think so? Or is it just an excuse for us not to do things?