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My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel t .........
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Robert Frost
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Jena Massabni (5/25/2008 2:41:00 AM)
To me, the apples represent everything he wanted to achieve in life. Thus, when he says that there is a barrell that he didn't fill, it basically means that he didn't do the most he could in life.
I think that he is overtired of trying to do his best and not getting the good results, therefore, he wants to die. Which is the long sleep he will go into. Emotionally, or physically. |
Derek Laforest (2/26/2008 11:56:00 PM)
Yo Yo Yo Yo Embreo! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I havent even read this poem but just wanted to write this and i have no idea why....isnt that wierd to the foshizill? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? This is a long poem and i dint want to read it sorry! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! People u gots to tell me what it about so i can unerstand |
Nomi Mas (2/11/2008 11:17:00 AM)
he has the talent of taking the simple scenarios into account of the universal. great. |
Muhammad Shanazar (3/31/2007 6:34:00 AM)
What Is Symbolism
Symbolism is the art or practice of using symbols especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations as an artistic imitation or invention that is a method of revealing or suggesting immaterial, ideal, or otherwise intangible truth or states. It also means the use of conventional or traditional signs in the representation of divine beings and spirits. Symbols are the gestures usually accompanied with the words. Some time a poet or a writer does not generally express as a form of rational communication. Linguistic symbolism, however, has always had a certain tendency toward rational transparency and logical coherence, and thus words, objects, and pictures—in their origin as symbols—are very closely related. The visual value of the object and picture is later translated into language and enhanced by it. Symbolism generally is metaphorical; the allegory, a particular development of the metaphor, symbolically represents an idea by means of a coherent complex of metaphors. Symbols point beyond themselves, participate in that to which they point, open up levels of reality that are otherwise closed to man, unlock dimensions and elements of the soul that correspond to reality and cannot be produced intentionally or invented. Symbols may be inner or outer; they come easily as well as naturally.
Summary OF The Poem “After Apple Picking by Robert Frost”
After Apple Picking describes Robert Frost’s sleep-wake condition in which he mingles up reality with dream. One evening while picking apples in his garden the poet felt exhausted and fatigue led him to drowsiness. Scent of the ripe apples in the atmosphere lost him in dream wherein he saw numerous apples of gigantic size; the vision was so clear and his senses were so awakened as he could not differentiate whether he visualized dream or reality. Though the poem is confusing yet it is not too difficult to understand. The students of literature must keep in mind the following points understand it well. On a certain day the poet remained, busy in his garden in picking apples all the time from morn to eve. After the whole day's labour he felt quite exhausted. Scent of the ripe apples exerted on him influence in the form of drowsiness. With this intoxicating smell and fatigue the poet was overwhelmed with sleep; therefore, he was lost in the world of dream in which he saw the magnified apples more than ten thousand. The rumbling sound of the apples in the cellar was easily audible to him. It was all too good to be believed. In sweetness of his dream the poet could not forget not forget exhaustion of his daily routine. It seemed to him that reality and dream were intermingled into inseparable oneness. Then the poet recalled the breaking of the glass like sheet of ice in the morning, it also refers that the thin glassy wall that makes division between the world of reality and the world of dream was shattered to mingle both the world into one. The poet wavered between a sleep-wake condition. This mysterious condition lasted for quite some time. On stepping out of the world of dream the poet himself was baffled and could not differentiate whether his sleep was “long sleep of death or just some human sleep.”
Symbolism in After Apple Picking by Robert Frost
Like all other poems of Frost’s “After Apple Picking” too can be read on more than one level. Apple-picking is the symbol of the human activities in life. Drowsiness stands for the sleep of death. The poet in this poem wants to tell us that the world of Dream and Reality are correlated, of the wishes are fulfilled in dream which remain unfulfilled in the worldly, as happened with the poet who had a great desire for the rich crop, “Of the great harvest I myself desired” but in reality he did not have enough crop even to fulfill his barrel, “There is a barrel I didn’t fill”. Though Robert Frost himself comments about the poem, “it is just about the apple-picking” yet the poem has symbolic significance. Apples represent all the goals and deeds in his power he could achieve and the unfilled barrel represents the poets unfulfilled deeds, drowsiness refers encroaching death, dream indicate the state of death and the ten thousand magnified apples indicate many times multiplied reward of the good deeds performed in the life. The poet himself is so confused and baffled that he can not decide which world is reality and which one is the world of dream. The poet does not know the actual nature of his sleep whether his sleep was the long sleep of the woodchuck one night-long human sleep. Sleep in literature always symbolizes death: sleep short death and death long sleep. In this incident the poet undergoes on the one hand through pleasant experience as he tastes the pleasure of rich harvest and on the other hand it is mind baffling one that the poet finds very close relationship between dream and reality: life and death.
The empty barrel literally signifies the unfinished work but symbolically it refers to a heap of unfulfilled desires. Although the apple-picker has been trying his utmost to fill his barrel with the apples picked by him, yet it is still empty because the apple tree did not bear enough fruit as the poet desired. In other words it may be elaborated, though the poet was on the last step of the ladder, he enjoyed himself high place in the world yet he cold not perform enough good deeds, when death encroached barrel of his deeds was half filled. Sleep which itself signifies death reaches the poet when his activities were still unaccomplished, and he require some more years. Though he fills half of the barrel, yet he harvests generous reward, in the world hereafter, for a few noble deeds he performed in his life, in the form of ten thousand apples of great size and magnitude. Some of the apples are pricked by the stubbles symbolises that sometime while performing good deeds we prick their purity with selfishness or self-interests, obviously we accomplish them for the sake of humanity but our personal interests are involved.
In literature an apple tree symbolises to the first disobedience of Man and its consequence: The Fall of Man, and his related sufferings in the world. It is the apple tree that incited our parents and became the cause of our sufferings and the poet’s two pointed ladder pointed towards heaven through the apple tree refers Man’s longing to regain the lost seat. Besides, Man was expelled out of the heaven doors for tasting the forbidden fruit but on the Earth he is repeating the same disobedience time and again; His eyes are in the influence of the drowsiness and Man can not see the reality with clear awakening eyes.
Its another interpretation of the apple picker might be the personification of the poet or a farmer picking apple might be the symbol of winter: the time of death standing on the two pointed ladder aspiring to make high flight towards heaven, leaving behind unfilled barrel of apples. The phrase “Apples upon some boughs” shows incompleteness in performance of the worldly activities, when death approaches it does not spare anyone to give the final touch to one’s activities, to properly fold the affairs. Essence of winter sleep and the intoxicating scent of apples symbolises tiredness. The phrase, “Pane of glass skimmed from the drinking trough” might be the symbol of the hazy invisible wall between both the world: this physical world and the world hereafter and finally the walls melts and falls down and lets advance the person standing across to become the dweller of the world hereafter. The poem ‘After Apple Picking” by Robert Frost is replete with symbols and has multidimensional interpretations. |
Muhammad Shanazar (11/7/2006 8:53:00 AM)
Depiction of Nature in After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost.
Before dealing with the subject “Depiction of Nature in After Apple-Picking”, by Robert Frost first of all it is necessary to describe in brief the term “Nature”. In poetry it is used with bilateral meanings; firstly “Nature” refers to a creative, controlling and binding force in the universe. It is the Omnipresent Spirit whose presence only can be felt by the too sensitive and clear mind of the poet like Words Wordsworth. One had to become a deliberate priest of nature like him to hear its guiding whisper imparting a moving message to the mankind. Secondly the term “Nature” is used for the manifest objects like flowers, petals, streams, lakes, forests, breeze, white snow, birds, blue sky, rain, waterfalls etc. in After Apple-Picking the depiction of nature refers to the latter aspect. No doubt Frost’s After Apple Picking is a very deep poem, it has several interpretations yet the canvas and the landscape for the depiction of nature is not as ample and broad as it is often considered. The poem depicts the rural life in winter and only one tired character with out female partner is seen at work which can be regarded incomplete world of man, and the man standing on the ladder pointed towards heaven through the apple tree. Apple trees and apple picking are also a part of nature which represent rural life closely linked to the world of nature. Unfilled barrel and two or three apples hanging down the branches make the depiction realistic, the scent of apple and it drowsing effects are not the part of urban but rural and natural life. The strange drossiness that the poet feels and his eyes grow heavy is in fact the intoxication of the natural environment which is totally absent in the polluted life of the so-called modern metropolitan cities. Vision of the world through a skimmed pane of watery glass is only possible in the world of nature and not through the panes of closed windows of the houses with the lofty walls. Magnified apples in abundance only can be dreamt and perceived by an ambitious farmer who is not contended with the present natural size and quantity of the apples. By dreaming the magnified apples the poet might have dreamt the remote future of the apples that a time might come when the scientific devices may incite the farmers to grow the apple of gigantic size by polluting and disturbing the balance of the pure world of nature. Swaying of the ladder, the rumbling sound, the load on load of apples, overtiredness on account of the harvest, the deep sleep and the poet’s indecisiveness in describing whether his sleep is human sleep or the sleep of the woodchuck all descriptions refer to the world of nature and its effects on the dweller who lives with establishing close contacts with it.
Figures of speech in “After Apple Picking” By Robert Frost.
Figures of speech refer to the deviation from literal statement or common usage to embellish both written and spoken expression. These are as under
1. Onomatopoeia refers to the imitation of natural sounds by words in such words as “crunch, ” “gurgle, ” “plunk, ” and “splash.”
2. Simile, metaphor, kenning, conceit, parallelism, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, and euphemism are used to express resemblance or relationship.
3. Hyperbole, litotes, rhetorical question, antithesis, climax, bathos, paradox, oxymoron, and irony emphasize understatement
4. Alliteration, repetition, anaphora, and onomatopoeia are called figures of sound.
As far as “After Apple Picking” is concerned it has several interpretations and underlying themes which refer to the figure of speech mentioned at serial No.3. In literature an apple tree refers to the first disobedience of Man and its consequence: The Fall of Man, and his related sufferings in the world. It is the apple tree that incited our parents and became the cause of our sufferings and the poet’s two pointed ladder pointed towards heaven through the apple tree refers Man’s longing to regain the lost seat. Besides, Man was expelled out of the heaven doors for tasting the forbidden fruit but on the Earth he is repeating the same disobedience time and again; His eyes are in the influence of the drossiness and Man can not see the reality with clear awakening eyes. The empty barrel refers towards empty barrel of our deeds that has not yet been fulfilled and the death in the form of night encroaches which does not allow us to keep continue apple picking. The poet before the sleep of death through the skimmed pane of watery glass sees other side of the world: the next world of hereafter marinating the links to this material world also.
Its another interpretation might be personification, the poet or a farmer picking apple might be the personified winter: the time of death standing on the two pointed ladder aspiring to make high flight towards heaven, leaving behind unfilled barrel of apples. The phrase “Apples upon some boughs” shows incompleteness in performance of the worldly activities, when death approaches it does not spare anyone to give the final touch to one’s activities, to properly fold the affairs. Essence of winter sleep and the intoxicating scent of apples signify tiredness. The phrase, “Pane of glass skimmed from the drinking trough” is a metaphor use far the hazy invisible wall between both the world: this physical world and the world hereafter and finally the walls melts and falls down and lets advance the person standing across to become the dweller of the world hereafter. Magnified apples and ten thousand pieces of fruit again refer to the underlying desire of the apple picker though he is in the grip of tiredness and drowsiness. The poet uses the device of onomatopoeia to convey and imitate the sound of the rumbling apples thus:
“And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound”
Alliteration which is considered the beauty of poetry is found only in a few lines, however there is a spontaneous flow of ideas and poetic language that make the poem of a superb quality.
Muhammad Shanazar
shanazar@hotmail.com |
Muhammad Shanazar (7/15/2006 11:40:00 AM)
Q. In his poem “After apple Picking”, Robert Frost treats themes like Life, Death and the Fall of Man through various symbols. Discuss
Ans: INTRODUCTION
After Apple Picking by Robert Frost was written in 1914; this poem possesses multidimensional aspects to be interpreted, but the themes like Life, Death and the Fall of Man are prevalent. One evening while picking apples from the garden the poet felt exhausted and fatigue led him to drowsiness. Scent of the ripe apples in the atmosphere lost him in dream wherein he saw numerous apples of gigantic size. The vision was so clear and his senses were so awakened as he could not differentiate whether he visualized dream or reality. Though the poem is confusing yet it is not too difficult to understand. The students of literature must keep in mind the following points understand it well.
1. The poet like every owner of the garden desired a great harvest. (Of the great harvest I myself desired.)
2. The poet almost had finished his work of apple picking. (There may be two or three apples I did not pick upon some bough.)
3. The poet in the particular season did not have good harvest despite he desired. He could only fill half of the barrel. (And there is a barrel I did not fill)
4. The poem besides a psychological effect of the of the activity is also a spiritual experience.
THE THEME OF LIFE
In the first dimension of the poem “After Apple Picking” might be the depiction of the poet’s strange experience rather mystic vision of mixing up reality with dream. He vividly describes all the proceedings of the apples picking, his desire to have harvest in bulk, the poet absorbs and negates the entity of Robert Frost and expresses his feelings that an orchard-keeper undergoes evoked by all his five senses. The poet presents imageries life like and the reader also visualizes them with the help of common vision. During the first reading the reader does not come across something extraordinary or metaphorical; but the more the reader ponders on the theme the more marvelous onion like layers of the poem begin to expose themselves. Ladder sticking through a tree, barrel that did not fill, two or three unpicked apples, sleep on the night, scent of the apples, drowsiness, hazy vision in the of the world looking through a pan of glass, in drowsiness of fatigue the magnified apples, rumbling sound, after the removal of drowsiness poet’s consternation to recognize the nature of the drowsing effects of fatigue, all is life like experience which a common man undergoes in his daily life.
THE THEME OF DEATH
As the poem “Apple Picking” by Robert Frost has critically been commented that it bears undoubtedly the theme of death. As poetry expresses deeper significance of the poet’s experience than merely the words signify. It expresses the experience of exceptionally spiritual being; the experience narrated in the poem does neither belong to the total death nor to the total life like sensations. The poem expresses the vision of a man who for the short pan lingers between the boundaries of life and death too. It is the border wherefrom he might maintain communion with the both worlds: worldly life and life hereafter. It is called the time of Nazah (A few moments before the natural death) . All men are the apple pickers in the garden of the world. In such an interpretation apples are the good deeds, but the poet could not fill the container of his action, the death time encroached but a slight before his death that is the drowsiness he in fact visualizes more than ten thousand magnified apples which is the seventy time greater reward of his action that all the religions portend to their believers. It can be concluded that the poem expresses the feelings of the poet who is about to depart to the world next and not of the utter death.
THE THEME OF THE FALL OF MAN
In Christianity the tree of apple is the symbol of hatred, enmity and jealousy. According to the Christian belief it is the fruit that brought along death and woe into this world. The poet himself is one of the descendants of Adam and Eve who were admonished by God not to come near the forbidden tree which according to the Christian belief was certainly the tree of apple. In brief they were tempted by Satan and he instigated them to taste the savour of the forbidden fruit. After eating the fruit they were overcome by the essence, their eyes blurred and they felt drowsiness. In fact it was the time when reality was vanishing away from their eyes and the world of sin that was of inferior quality opened to them. The poet through out the poem does not taste the apples but goes near to them and touches them this is why he only feels drowsiness. It is in fact the outcome of the disobedience. The pointed ladder towards heaven suggests sublime status of Man before The Fall. Adam and Eve committed an act of displeasure, they were sent exile from the heavenly region, their regal status was taken back, and the descendants must have made efforts to regain the lost seats but every one like poet desires for the rich crop of the apples with magnified size.
Muhammad Shanazar
shanazar@hotmail.com |
Muhammad Shanazar (11/4/2005 10:37:00 AM)
Comments: After Apple Picking, written in 1914. This poem describes Robert Frost’s sleep-wake condition in which he mingles up reality with dream. One evening while picking apples in his garden the poet felt exhausted and fatigue led him to drowsiness. Scent of the ripe apples in the atmosphere lost him in dream wherein he saw numerous apples of gigantic size; the vision was so clear and his senses were so awakened as he could not differentiate whether he visualized dream or reality. Though the poem is confusing yet it is not too difficult to understand. The students of literature must keep in mind the following points understand it well.
1. The poet like every owner of the garden desired a great harvest. (Of the great harvest I myself desired.)
2. The poet almost had finished his work of apple picking. (There may be two or three apples I did not pick upon some bough.)
3. The poet in the particular season did not have good harvest despite he desires. He could only fill half of the barrel. (And there is a barrel I did not fill)
4. The poem besides a psychological effect of the of the activity is also a spiritual experience
The poem “After Apple Picking” depicts the poet’s strange experience rather mystic vision of mixing up reality with dream. In a sleep-wake condition he is rocked between dream and reality but he fails to understand the nature of this sleep. He can differentiate whether it is a dream or reality. On a certain day the poet remained, busy in his garden in picking apples all the time from morn to eve. After the whole day's labour he felt quite exhausted. Scent of the ripe apples exerted on him influence in the form of drowsiness. With this intoxicating smell and fatigue the poet was overwhelmed with sleep; therefore, he was lost in the world of dream in which he saw the magnified apples more than ten thousand. The rumbling sound of the apples in the store was easily audible to him. It was all too good to be believed. The poet overjoyed at this great harvest as it was the realization of his desire. As the poet had his produce more than sufficient, he did not care for the apples if they were spiked or bruised. In sweetness of his dream the poet could not forget not forget exhaustion of his daily routine. It seemed to him that reality and dream were intermingled into inseparable oneness. Then the poet recalled the breaking of the glass like sheet of ice in the morning, it also refers that the thin glassy wall that makes division between the world of reality and the world of dream was shattered to mingle both the world into one. The poet wavered between a sleep-wake condition. This mysterious condition lasted for quite some time. On stepping out of the world of dream the poet himself was baffled and could not differentiate whether his sleep was “long sleep of death or just some human sleep.”
Like all other poems of Frost, this poem too can be read on more than one level. Apple-picking is the symbol of the human activities in life. Drowsiness stands for the sleep of death. The poet in this poem wants to tell us that the world of Dream and Reality are correlated, of ten wishes are fulfilled in dream which remain unfulfilled in the worldly, as happened with the poet who had a great desire for the rich crop, “Of the great harvest I myself desired” but in reality he did not have enough crop even to fulfil his barrel, “There is a barrel I didn’t fill”. Though Robert Frost himself comments about the poem, “it is just about the apple-picking” yet the poem has symbolic significance. Apples represent all the goals and deeds in his power he could achieve and the unfilled barrel represents the poets unfulfilled deeds, drowsiness refers encroaching death, dream indicate the state of death and the ten thousand magnified apples indicate many times multiplied reward of the good deeds performed in the life.
Q.1. Describe the poet’s pleasant experience of apple picking.
Robert Frost, the poet has done too much of his routine work and he is now terribly exhausted. He has cherished the hope of reaping a rich harvest of apples, but he not has harvested sufficient produce as he desired. He could only fill half of the container and after the activity has been completed he becomes disgusted with his drudgery. Later on his exhaustion rocks him into the world of dream in which he experiences a very vivid vision. In drowsiness he can not discriminate between dream and reality. He sees numerous apples even more than ten thousand, all of great magnitude. This condition lasts for a certain span of time then he comes into sense; the world of colour and taste. The poet is still so confused and baffled that he can not decide which world is reality and which one is the world of dream. The poet does not know the actual nature of his sleep whether his sleep was the long sleep of the woodchuck one night-long human sleep. The experience the poet undergoes is on the one hand is pleasant as he tastes the pleasure of rich harvest and on the other hand it is mind baffling that the poet finds very close relationship between dream and reality.
2. What does the empty barrel signify in After Apple Picking?
Robert Frost, the poet in the beginning of the poem mentions that after apple-picking his barrel is still empty. The empty barrel literally signifies the unfinished work but symbolically it refers to a heap of unfulfilled desires. Although the apple-picker has been trying his utmost to fill his barrel with the apples picked by him, yet it is still empty because the apple tree did not bear enough fruit as the poet desired. In other words it may be elaborated, though the poet was on the last step of the ladder, he enjoyed himself high place in the world yet he cold not perform enough good deeds, when death encroached barrel of his deeds was half filled. Sleep which itself signifies death reaches the poet when his activities were still unaccomplished, and he require some more years. Though he fills half of the barrel yet he harvests generous reward in the world hereafter for a few noble deeds he performed in his life in the form ten thousand apples of great size and magnitude.
3. How is the world of reality and dreams mixed up in this poem?
Robert Frost, in this poem inter-mingles the world of reality and dreams. In reality, he is picking normal apples while standing on his two pointed ladder but, in dream, he sees apples of great size and magnitude. In sleep he vacillates between two poles of reality and dream. The poet in fact describes close relationship between dream and realty, life and death. The ambitions which often remain unfulfilled in the world of reality are realized in the world of dream. The dreamer enjoys himself with the same tastes, colours, smells and the pleasures of touch. In reality, the poet experiences he limited capacity of his physical labour but in dream he observes unlimited capacity of his imagination. The poet himself becomes as baffled and confused as it is difficult for him to suggest the solution whether the world which we consider reality is the real world or a mere optical illusion.
4. What kind of sleep does Robert Frost sleep?
While performing his work of picking apples, Robert Frost’s fatigue makes him feel extreme drowsiness. His fatigue and scent of the apples mingle and overpower the poet’s mind. In drowsiness he begins to see dream and he gets the vision of magnified apples. He hears them rumbling when emptied out of the barrels. The apple-picker has actually got tired of seeing the routine of loading and unloading of his apples. He admits that he himself has desired such a bumper harvest. Despite his utmost care, the apple-picker cannot throw the apples undamaged in his barrel. Some of them fall down from the barrel and are pricked by the stubbles. The dream is s much clear and vivid that it becomes difficult for the apple-picker to make difference between reality and dream. When he wakes up, he asks himself in his astonishment what kind of sleep it is. He is too confused to know whether it is a woodchuck’s long sleep of hibernation or a short human sleep of one night only. He does not suggest the answer and leaves to the reader to draw conclusion. |
J.T. Best (11/3/2005 4:43:00 AM)
It is about After Apple Picking by Robert Frost that I stand in passionate opposition to the mainstream literary world. I have tried in vain to have my interpretation of that poem published but no one appreciates my insight, so I stand alone and must do it myself. In order to build upon the notion that the poem is a bit chauvinistic, laced with sexual depth and filled with lust, I have crafted the definitive essay that sets forth in vivid detail the poem's often touted but never explained sexual connotations. I welcome any reader comments regarding my journey into the depths of the Robert Frost psyche and should you choose to express yourself in reply, then please do so within the bounds of law and intellectual decency. All such emails will be posted. Please be advised that I consider the content on the second page of my website as intellectual literature for adults only, go to: http: //whendarknessfell.tripod.com/ |
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