Pathways in Life

           Everyone has intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in life. Intrinsic means internal motivation and extrinsic meaning external motivation. The decision to follow your intrinsic or extrinsic values is personally deciding which one is more important in life. In the poem “After Apple Picking” Robert Frost dives into a deeper meaning of goals in life. Through the use of imagery, Frost not only creates pictures of the hard and strenuous work the narrator does, but also the outcome of all the hard work in life.

            Frost’s use of imagery in the poem gives the reader a mental image of the hard work the narrator experiences. For example, Frost states “My instep arch not only keeps the ache/It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round/I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.” (l. 21-23). In these lines the deeper meaning of what Frost indirectly states that the narrator feels the aching in his feet from working tirelessly all day. He also puts detail into explaining the feel of the latter swaying underneath his feet and feeling the latter bend as he stands on it all day. This is just one explanation of the strenuous work the narrator does.

            Frost also uses imagery to explain how all of the hard work has affected him, and the choices he made in life. In the poem Frost states “For I have had too much/Of apple-picking: I am overtired/Of the great harvest I myself desired.” (l. 27-29) This is explain how the narrator is exhausted by the goals he wants to achieve in his life. He could possibly be stressed out by trying and trying by never fulfilling his want or need before his time is over.

            As stated before, Robert Frost digs deep into searching for what people really want out of life. He makes his readers think about the want or need in a persons life and asks them the question “What do you love to do in life?” If I had to choose something to do for the rest of my life, I would choose writing. I love to write anything; poems, lyrics, but mostly stories. That would be the one thing I would do if money were no object.