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Symbolism in After Apple Picking
Symbolism in After Apple Picking
LEC052037
DR EFTIKAR AHAMED B
POETRY 11
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
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
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
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
Works Cited
content/uploads/2020/05/LitCharts-after-apple-picking-1.pdf.
picking.
frost/after-apple-picking/