The Regrets of a Time Gone By Poetry is a language of understanding. The reader must be able to comprehend the various known connotations for words as well as be able to pick up on the uncommon and unknown meanings of words. Poets are masters of language. They constantly manipulate words to make a specific connotation fit the ideas and scenarios that they choose to describe. Therefore, poetry is a language that requires a reader to closely read and pay attention to certain aspects in order for he or she to understand the poet’s message. The poet, Robert Frost, takes the idea of a harvest and uses it as a metaphor to expound upon different aspects of life.
In the poem, “After Apple-Picking,” Frost uses imagery, figurative language, and a reminiscent tone to demonstrate to the reader the various emotions and complications of life. What at first glance from the title seems to be a poem about picking apples is really a metaphor about retirement. The first idea the poem illustrates is that the speaker has no true desire to depart from his work. His “long two-pointed” ladder that still rest upon the same tree “toward heaven still” is a metaphor symbolizing his reluctance to leave and accept that the day is coming to an end (line 1) (line 2).
He becomes unable to fulfill his last day’s work as though the completion of the task would make the finalization too real. He mentions the “barrel the [he] didn’t fill” and refers to “some apples that [he] didn’t pick” that still hang from “some bough” as though he is leaving something behind that he truly cares about or some matter of unfinished business (line 5).
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The speaker struggles between feelings of regret and feelings of satisfaction as he ponders his accomplishments and the opportunities that he let pass him by in life. His emotions run the gamut from lament to fulfillment as he slightly regrets the fact that he is “done with apple-picking now (line 6).” He mentions an “essence of winter sleep” present in the air which is easily interpreted as a sense of hibernation or a long restful and peaceful slumber that is sure to come very soon (line 7).
Grounding this poem in reality reassures the fact that it is after a long day, or era, and the speaker is reflecting on all that has passed him by in that time. After his long period, he recalls the genesis of his journey.
He ponders the beginning as he fails to “rub [a] strangeness from [his] sight (line 9).” He admires the surroundings through a “pane of glass” that distorts the images around him to appear as “hoary grass,” or an aged and respected landscape (line 10) (line 12).
He remembers the undying “scent of apples” that has stayed with him for so long and seems to be a comforting and relaxing scent (line 8).
All of this reminiscing puts him into such a relaxed state of mind that he begins to drift off to sleep, or a deep state of calm peaceful relaxation. During this peaceful slumber, he dreams.
This dreaming state was long coming before he even fell asleep; and when he is sleeping, he dreams of what he did while awake and working. He dreams of “magnified apples” running all over with “stem end and blossom end (line 18) (line 19).” Even in his sleep, he feels the pains and pressures of his work as his “instep arch not only keeps the ache, / It keeps the pressure of a ladder round (line 21-22).” Four out of five of his senses are at work during his dreaming state as he sees the “magnified apples,” feels the “ache in his arch” and the “ladder sway as the bough bends,” smells the “scent of apples,” and hears the “rumbling sound/ Of load on load of apples coming in (line 18) (line 21) (line 23) (line 8) (line 25-26).” At this point, he comes to the realization that he has had too much of a good thing, too much of something that he truly enjoys, when he says ” I have had too much/ Of apple-picking (line 27-28).” He realizes that he can no longer do this job because he is “overtired’ from his work (line 28).
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He has grown old and understands that he must quite, as if he were retiring from somewhat of a dream job. Up to this point, the speaker seems regretful about leaving a job he graciously loves. It is at this point that he realizes that although he loves his job, it is time for him to rest his body. He has served his duty and decides that it is time for him to relax.
He has fulfilled his desire “Of the great harvest (line 29).” He has lovingly lifted down “ten thousand thousand fruit (line 30).” He experiences regret “For all/ That struck the earth” because now they are “of no worth” any longer (line 32-33) (line 36).
It is as if the dropped apples are something he let die, and he deeply grieves that loss. He wraps up his dreams with wonders. He wonders if the woodchuck feels his hibernation coming in the same way. He asks himself if the woodchuck dreams of the various tasks he was unable to so when he goes to hibernate, or if he just drifts into hibernation like a human drops off to sleep.
He says he wonders if the “woodchuck could say it’s like his/ Long sleep” or is it “just some human sleep (line 40-41) (line 42).” He continues to wonder and his wonder carries through even beyond the end of the poem. He never answers his own question of what sleep is or never understands what the woodchuck’s perspective on the situation happens to be. He remains confused as to what is in store for the rest of his quest. The vivid picture Frost paints with his colorful language takes the reader on the journey through life with the speaker. The tense of the poem is confusing because the speaker is dreaming, working and reminiscing all at once.
Frost leaves the poem up for interpretation on many different levels. The poem could be a metaphor for death and the afterlife, a metaphor for coming to terms with religion (or lack thereof), or interpreted to mean a coming to terms with the end of an era. Looking at the poem in either way will bring the reader to the same conclusion that it must be dealt with and it is something that is hard. It is a process that one must go through and there are always questions that are left unanswered through the course. “After Apple-Picking” is a mysterious and inquisitive poem that can be read in many different ways and used to symbolize many different aspects of life. WORKS CITED Frost, Robert.
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“After Apple-Picking.” Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed. Clifford, John, and Schilb, John. New York: Stratford Publishing Services, 2003. 189-191.
