Nature as Both Magnificent and Troubling
Frost is often wrongly assumed to be a simple nature poet who celebrates the joys of the outside world through rose-colored glasses. But generally the people who think this have not read enough of his poems, because even in his most nostalgic nature poems, like this one, there is an underlying darkness. In "After Apple-Picking," he worries about the way fallen apples are perceived as worthless and says his dreams will be "troubled." For an illustration of this trend in Frost's work, check out poems like "Fire and Ice," "Acquainted with the Night," and, if you want to plunge into utter blackness, "Out, Out –", which has to be the most disturbing poem about sawing off your hand (!) out there.