introduction to the Poem | After Apple Picking
After Apple Picking by Robert Frost is one the famous lyrics in English poetry. It was
published in 1941 in the second edition of poetry; North of Boston. The poem is in
first person where the narrator is the apple-picker. After Apple Picking is very
famous poem for rich symbolism. The poem focuses on aspirations, ambitions, and
desires of an individual in this world. The main theme of the poems revolves around
this point that life ends but work and desires never end
Summary of After Apple Picking by Robert Frost
The poem opens in the first person and the narrator (apple-picker: Robert Frost) is
standing on a two-pointed ladder and is picking apples in an apple orchard. The poet
further elaborates that the ladder is standing straight upright in the direction of sky,
indicating the biblical story of Jacob’s ladder, where Jacob dreams of a ladder that
reached Heaven. The narrator wants to fill an empty barrel. However, he is too tired
to continue his apple picking work. He is tired and feeling drowsy due to winter
weather. He has spent all day and now night is approaching and he is feeling
numbness as an individual feels in winter weather due to tiredness and coldness of
weather. The narrator is very exhausted but he wishes to pick all the remaining
apples.
During apple picking, he fell into a trance and started dreaming. He compares sleep
to an ‘essence’ in the winter air, and feels this essence smells like apples, which
reveals the narrator's drowsiness and fatigue. He feels that he is going to fall asleep
on the ladder that night. During dream, he feels that his ladder is swaying with the
wind and he sees big apples appearing and disappearing. He also hears the sound
of an apple dropping from a tree into an empty barrel. The narrator feels strangeness
in his sight as he is looking through a thin sheet of ice and everything is looking
strange and distorted. Thin sheet of ice melts and falls into pieces but sight is still
vague. The sleep is hovering and soon he starts dreaming.
In his dream, the narrator is experiencing a strange scene. He sees large-size
apples appearing and disappearing everywhere. His feet are feeling pain and it looks
as he leans, his ladder sways with the bough. In his dreamy picturesque scene, the
narrator is in his trance state. After describing the visual scene, the narrator
describes what he is hearing in his dream. He is listening to the rumbling sound of
carts carrying load on load on apples. The narrator makes an exaggeration for the
quantity of apples that he is imagining. The apple picker has thousands of apples to
pick and not to let any of the apples fall down on the ground. Since the narrator has
already filled many barrels. He feels himself overtired and fed up with the plenteous
harvest he has himself desired so much in the past.
The apple picker is very sensitive in his job and takes utmost care to pick apples. He
has plenty of apples to be picked and carefully unloaded into barrels. If an apple falls
on the ground due to carelessness, it is treated as rejected and discarded (even
unspoiled). Fallen apples lose their worth and they are placed aside in a large heap
After Apple Picking by Robert Frost is one the famous lyrics in English poetry. It was
published in 1941 in the second edition of poetry; North of Boston. The poem is in
first person where the narrator is the apple-picker. After Apple Picking is very
famous poem for rich symbolism. The poem focuses on aspirations, ambitions, and
desires of an individual in this world. The main theme of the poems revolves around
this point that life ends but work and desires never end
Summary of After Apple Picking by Robert Frost
The poem opens in the first person and the narrator (apple-picker: Robert Frost) is
standing on a two-pointed ladder and is picking apples in an apple orchard. The poet
further elaborates that the ladder is standing straight upright in the direction of sky,
indicating the biblical story of Jacob’s ladder, where Jacob dreams of a ladder that
reached Heaven. The narrator wants to fill an empty barrel. However, he is too tired
to continue his apple picking work. He is tired and feeling drowsy due to winter
weather. He has spent all day and now night is approaching and he is feeling
numbness as an individual feels in winter weather due to tiredness and coldness of
weather. The narrator is very exhausted but he wishes to pick all the remaining
apples.
During apple picking, he fell into a trance and started dreaming. He compares sleep
to an ‘essence’ in the winter air, and feels this essence smells like apples, which
reveals the narrator's drowsiness and fatigue. He feels that he is going to fall asleep
on the ladder that night. During dream, he feels that his ladder is swaying with the
wind and he sees big apples appearing and disappearing. He also hears the sound
of an apple dropping from a tree into an empty barrel. The narrator feels strangeness
in his sight as he is looking through a thin sheet of ice and everything is looking
strange and distorted. Thin sheet of ice melts and falls into pieces but sight is still
vague. The sleep is hovering and soon he starts dreaming.
In his dream, the narrator is experiencing a strange scene. He sees large-size
apples appearing and disappearing everywhere. His feet are feeling pain and it looks
as he leans, his ladder sways with the bough. In his dreamy picturesque scene, the
narrator is in his trance state. After describing the visual scene, the narrator
describes what he is hearing in his dream. He is listening to the rumbling sound of
carts carrying load on load on apples. The narrator makes an exaggeration for the
quantity of apples that he is imagining. The apple picker has thousands of apples to
pick and not to let any of the apples fall down on the ground. Since the narrator has
already filled many barrels. He feels himself overtired and fed up with the plenteous
harvest he has himself desired so much in the past.
The apple picker is very sensitive in his job and takes utmost care to pick apples. He
has plenty of apples to be picked and carefully unloaded into barrels. If an apple falls
on the ground due to carelessness, it is treated as rejected and discarded (even
unspoiled). Fallen apples lose their worth and they are placed aside in a large heap
