Robert frost- after apple picking
In the poem "After Apple-Picking", Robert Frost has cleverly disguised many symbols and allusions to enhance the meaning of the poem. One must understand them to grab and make clear the central theme of the poem. The apple mentioned in the poem could be connected to the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. It essentially is the beginning of everything earthly and heavenly, therefore repelling death. To understand the complete meaning of Frost's poem one needs to be aware that for something to be dead, it must have once had life. Life and death are common themes in poetry, but this poem focuses on what is in between, life's missed experiences and the regret that the speaker is left with.Regret is defined as "a feeling of disappointment or distress about something that one wishes could be different" (www.dictionary.com). While there is no doubt that the speaker in this poem has had a very productive and worthwhile life, one gets the impression that there is still an empty feeling in his life, of which he can do nothing about. In lines 3-6, he reflectively states, "And there's a barrel that I didn't fill beside it, and there may be two or three apples I didn't pick upon some bough". Here, it is necessary to expand that i
The poetic meaning of sleep in this poem has been previously established, however, a new definition surfaces as a result of this statement. The reason for the reflection is clear when the speaker says, "I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight I got from looking through a pane of glass I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough and held against the world of hoary grass" (9-10). The speaker seems to be seeing all of his chances, or opportunities. It is interesting, though just a thought it should be noted that in the year that Frost wrote this poem, he was in his forties. At this point in the poem though, the speaker seems to think that this ladder to heaven may break, sending him to the earth or perhaps even to the "cellar" (a metaphor for Hell). From this it seems as though the speaker has caught a glimpse of his reflection in the drinking well and is able to notice the years that have aged on his face. "But I am done with apple-picking now. The fact that this "rumbling" is coming from the "cellar", or even the fact that it is a rumbling sound, evoke a darker meaning in the poem. Again, the speaker says "and I keep hearing from the cellar bin the rumbling sound of load on load of apples coming in" (24-26). The reverence with which he speaks of these opportunities, give the reader the sense that the speaker is now looking back on his life and suddenly realizes the importance of this lost fruit. Frost has just written of two different types of sleep-is it possible that he is talking about two different states of death? In trying to find the significance of this statement, it is necessary to return to the apple and its representation of both life and death. It is important to note though, that he accepts the fact that he can do nothing about these unfinished tasks, and he is ready to move to a new and final stage in his life as he acknowledges that he "is done with apple-picking now" (6). The discarded apples act as metaphors for all of the mistakes that he has made in his life, and he now understands that they are not worthless, and much knowledge can be gained from looking at one's mistakes. It is clear that the ladder is pointed towards heaven, and can therefore be regarded as a path to heaven.
Common topics in this essay:
Garden Eden,
Robert Frost,
rumbling sound,
,
unfinished tasks,
poem speaker,
life death,
meaning poem,
winter sleep,
looming death,
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