Robert Frost’s poem “After Apple-Picking” represents a seemingly daily task portrayed by the author as a much more meaningful life and death cycle. The author combined an imaginary and metaphorical world with a day-to-day scenario through a parallel between picking apples and going through a life full of sorrows, happy moments, and regretful experiences. Robert Frost’s figurative language, tone, imagery, and symbolism are poetic devices that highlight the speaker’s emotion and ought to be analyzed for a deeper understanding of his literary work.
The first lines highlight Frost’s figurative language: “Ladder sticking through a tree towards heaven” (1,2). The ladder is a metaphor that represents the life path. Moreover, the author uses imagery to allow readers to visualize the action of picking apples by describing certain symbols disguised as little descriptive details. Literature is a tool that “always awakens senses” (Deepa and Ilankumaran 619). In this poem, Frost does this by giving readers the realistic experience of being in that field with him while feeling “the scent of apples” (8). Such direct cues not only create a visual image of the action but also allows for a deeper understanding of the narrator’s own emotions.
The symbolism of life and death is present throughout Frost’s literary piece. Researchers mention that patients believe the “core elements for a “good death” included a feeling of closure” (Krikorian et al. 152). Frost mentions that “there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill” (3), pointing out that he did not fulfill all his earthly tasks to leave this world for another one yet. The overall tone of this poem is ambiguous since it changes as the speaker’s emotions are revealed. The beginning has an almost ethereal atmosphere of a ladder pointing towards heaven. However, the illusion soon shifts into another reality that is darker and more realistic. In the following lines, Frost writes, “I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight” (9). This refers to all the aspects of life that have remained forgotten, incomplete, or unfulfilled and ultimately make death undesirable. While death is imminent, the regrets and sorrows hunt the author, and he cannot achieve the relief of closure.
There is a direct parallel between daily tasks and life. As the speaker is exhausted by working all day and picking the harvest before resting after hard work, each human being encounters different challenges and has various experiences before ultimately leaving this world forever. Khan and Bokhari refer to Frost’s poetry as “full of figurative language” (17). The author gives two different images of sleep, one being death and the other one being “just some human sleep” (Frost 42). The speaker’s tone in this sequence becomes more apathetic. It gives the impression that passing away and falling asleep are two notions that are not exponentially different.
“After Apple-Picking” is unique and touching because the poem reflects the author’s honesty and doubtfulness. The speaker does not portray himself as a hero fearless in the face of death yet sees the end of life as something ambiguous. Such relativism when it comes to passing away is illustrated as an escape yet as the end of the road that does not forgive mistakes and does not allow part experiences to be erased or fixed. Frost himself cannot give an answer to the philosophical questions regarding life, its meaning, and its ending. All the author can do is reflect upon it through his poetry using figurative language, realistic and fantastical imagery, and a changing tone that illustrates the speaker’s doubts and concerns.
Works Cited
Deepa, P, and M. Ilankumaran. “Teaching Poetry Enhances Speaking Skills – An Analysis Based on Select Poems.” International Journal of Engineering & Technology, vol. 7, 2018, pp. 619–623.
Frost, Robert. “After Apple-Picking.”Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation. Web.
Khan, Gul Faraz, and Syeda Samar Shahid Bokhari. “Teaching Figurative Language through Poetry of Robert Frost at Graduation Level.” Journal of English Language, Literature and Education, vol. 1, no. 3, 2020, pp. 17–56.
Krikorian, Alicia, et al. “Patient’s Perspectives on the Notion of a Good Death: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, vol. 59, no. 1, 2020, pp. 152–164.