RIZWANA

LEC052037

DR EFTIKAR AHAMED B

POETRY 11

Symbolism in After Apple- Picking

Robert frost as a poet is known for his interests in exploring the emotions and events

of everyday life. Also considered as a pastoral poet who contributed beautiful and thought-

provoking poems such as Mending Wall, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and many

other compositions, one could observe how natural world and ordinary lives inspires his

poetry. Rural country sides, rustic environment, individuality and seclusion and the struggles

of humans are recurring themes in his poems and one such poem which embodies all these

poetic qualities is After Apple- Picking. The narrator in the poem is seemingly engaged in the

work of apple picking as he stands on the tall two-legged ladder but he is tired and wants to

sleep. At one look, it is a simple piece of writing about a hard-working man picking his

apples from the trees in his orchard and ponders over the kind of sleep he would have at the

end of the day but when one delves into it and conduct a close reading of it, it often comes

out as a bizarre and complex poem which revels in the joys of ulteriority.

The blatant expression of inner meanings is employed less in the poem as the readers

are left to sink in and go deeper so that the different symbols utilized by Frost becomes

clearer. Many ideas and qualities get unfolded once the literary device of symbolism is

properly comprehended and inquired. One among the significant symbols used in the poem is

apples. Even from the title of the poem where apple is presented as a fruit, it bores many

other references which broadens from religious instances to the productivity of human
beings. It could be instantly connected to the biblical reference to the forbidden fruit

devoured by Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden which led to the fall of humanity or it

could be recalled in relation to the Norse golden apples of Idun which is consumed by gods to

remain immortal and healthy. The act of apple picking is enthusiastically done by the narrator

but just when he stopped his work, strange lethargy took over him which suggest apples as

the source of energy and strength. But one could also read the apple picking as the travails

and works a person has to do in order to earn for his livelihood. If the apples are not given

good care, they will rot or the bad ones will be used to make cider, “As of no worth”. The

apples may represent the narrator or the whole mankind itself fearing a fall to the ground and

being worthless. The struggle against the inevitability of death to carve a legacy for oneself

could suggest apples as a symbol to be the cycle of life and death and the experiences an

individual undergoes between these two phenomena. It could be love, sorrow, guilt over

missed opportunities, regrets over living a futile life and many more. It represents new life

and death when new apples replace the old in the spring season when all the apples are either

picked or withered resulting in an empty orchard with no fruits.

The poem also explores the intricacies behind sleep and its intriguing connection to

death. The narrator reiterates his wish to sleep and the tiredness consuming him to be weaker

and more dormant. He is worried that he would have a restless sleep as he is sick and done

with apple picking. He drifts between reality and illusion as it becomes hard to say whether

the incidents, he mentions along the poem is a product of his subconscious mind. Whether the

narrator falls asleep in his bed or orchard is unclear as the tense changes from past to present.

The work is left undone in the orchard and it troubles the narrator and therefore he wishes for

deep sleep like that of a woodchuck in its hibernation. The speaker also wonders over the

normal human sleep which indicates a restorative rest for body and mind and also to

rejuvenate the spirits to regain the human productivity just like how an artist/writer takes
some time off to enhance their creative strength. Here, one can assume that the speaker is old

or physically and mentally exhausted and death is waiting for him as he drifts into sleep.

Death is essential just like how the apples in the orchard must die for the new ones to flourish

and grow but the narrator frets in the underlying enigma of the inevitable death.

Life and downfall of it continues to thread through another symbol such as “long

pointed ladder” which the speaker uses for apple picking. The ladder is said to point towards

heaven alluding to the story of Jacob’s ladder that had angels climbing it in The Book of

Genesis where Jacob and his descendants were blessed by the God who is at the top of that

ladder. It is bridge which connects earth and heaven and also symbolizes life and death. The

honest and dedicated earthly works like apple picking could be a straight path and a glorious

opportunity to ascend to heaven. The speaker’s feet aches from standing in the ladder all day

which symbolizes a difficult life for the human kind. The path to achieve a spot in heaven

could be painful and only those who endure it till the end would attend the holy place. The

swaying of the ladder symbolizes the probability of an afterlife and the ambivalence of the

human kind to pick the path to righteousness and the mysteries of death.

The poem in the beginning mentioned a barrel that was half empty which suggests a

deeper meaning to how humans at times does not complete their assigned roles in their lives.

The barrel symbolizes life itself and only when the apples of merits, hard work and virtues

are filled in it, one could be deemed as successful and worthy. The narrator pictured an

uncanny image of world while looking through a piece of ice taken out of water trough and

ice signifies the apple picking season is over. The grass was described as hoary when looked

through the ice and it suggests the season of winter which is symbolic of death. The

emptiness and inactivity of the season could be associated with creative inertia after a long

period of potency. The year coming to an end could also imply the life of the speaker coming

close to his death as he is in the last stages of his mortal life span.
 The vivid imagery employed in the poem like the huge magnified apples which

appears in the dreams indicates the pressures and anxiety of the speaker. Even after he

decided to quit on apple picking, minute details of it still “appear and disappear” and haunts

his dreams depriving him off a peaceful state of mind. It could be directly connected to

creative works of the artists or the poet’s composition of poetry itself. He could smell the

scent of apples as he falls deeply into the winter sleep which explores the ideas of

dissatisfaction and long sleep of death. The great harvest which symbolizes growth and

ingenuity as stated in the poem has become overwhelming for the speaker as he cannot stand

the noise of the any more apples loading in. This overabundance of apples could be a sign for

overflow of creativity and it would be impossible for the speaker to pick every apple which in

turn symbolically suggest an exploration of every possible creative idea. “Ten thousand

thousand fruits to touch” signifies the ideas the speaker wants to comprehend and every

single of those is treasured and cherished by him.

The apple falling to the ground could be coupled to the fall of mankind to earth

through the intake of the forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve. Those apples could be considered

as symbols of depravity and earthly exploitation and are deemed as contemptible which

resembles the fate of Adam and Eve and these apples represents the whole fallen humanity.

Even as the speaker tries to sleep, he is worried over the remaining apples left in the orchard

or perhaps the speaker worries over the undeniable fact that everything beautiful and

unspoiled like flawless apples will eventually be sabotaged by death. The speaker perhaps

prepares for death in a hope that life and death could be like orchard’s seasons and there may

be new series of rejuvenation that are imperceptible to the speaker.

Frost employed symbolism in the most profound ways and was successful in

ingeniously concealing the symbols that enhanced the depth and meaning of the poem. The

symbols such as sleep, apples, ladder etc. helped the poet to create an impact in the readers in
the most poetic way. It truly helped in building the emotional essence with connection to the

speaker who picked apples.

Works Cited

“After Apple Picking”. Litcharts, https://literariness.org/wp-

content/uploads/2020/05/LitCharts-after-apple-picking-1.pdf.

“After Apple-Picking”. Shmoop, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/poetry/after-apple-

picking.

“After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost”. Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/robert-

frost/after-apple-picking/