AmandaG

[|VoiceThread]**"After Apple-Picking" by Robert Frost**



Title- “After Apple-Picking” brings to mind imagery of autumnal harvest and orchards filled with fruit and bushels overflowing with apples. The “after” part suggests it is evening or the end of a season. Paraphrase- Following a long day of work, the speaker, an old apple-picker, is tired of, and exhausted by, his line of work. He has not felt fully awake since earlier that morning when he looked through a pane of ice found on the surface of the frozen water in the trough. He feels exhausted, ready for sleep, and unsure about life. He wonders if he is heading for normal, “human” sleep, or something more “woodchuck” like: a permanent hibernation. Connotation- · Diction: word choice is simple and uncomplicated, no words longer than “magnified” or “strangeness” · Imagery: a ladder pointed towards heaven, frozen water in the trough, magnified apples appearing and disappearing, nothing especially fantastical – more just everyday images taking on greater, more significant, meanings · Details: two-pointed ladder, winter sleep – death, end of fall; hoary grass, russet apples, ten thousand thousand fruits, cider-apple heap, woodchuck… all details work to show that the speaker has been in the business of apple picking for many years and is picking up on the small details of his life, perhaps for the first time · Language- non-formal, gives the impression of coming from a person of everything middle – middle class, middle income, middle society · Form- rhyme and line-length are varied throughout, the rhyme is never consistent and is most interesting with the five-part rhyme in the last eight lines, 42 lines arranged in no particular format, the poem is primarily iambic pentameter · Point of View- told from the perspective of an aging apple picker · Symbolism- the ladder pointing towards heaven represents speaker’s soon death, magnified apples in dream represent missed opportunities, woodchuck sleep means eternal life, and human sleep means standard unrewarding death Attitude- The attitude of the speaker seems almost of acceptance towards his inevitable death. He could sense “sleep” coming on while he was still awake and can see his dreams forming into images of his missed opportunities. He can merely wonder about the true fate for his life after death. The author seems to pity the speaker and relate to the helplessness of the unknown. The reader is therefore led to empathize for the old man and wish for him a woodchuck sleep and not an unrewarding, cold human death. Shifts- There are no true shifts in the poem, besides one highly subtle shift taking place in the beginning. The speaker goes from having some semblance of motivation for his job to having none at all as he comes to accept more and more his unavoidable fate. Theme- People will never be able to accomplish all the plans they set for themselves; there is simply not enough time. Title- “After Apple-Picking” now means after the work of one’s life is over, what remains? The speaker is done apple-picking, and simultaneously done living. He is headed for the afterlife, whatever that may be.