BA English Poem After Apple Picking Summary,Questions and reference to the context

BA English Poem After Apple Picking Text and Notes

Text Of After Apple Picking

Summary of the poem

In this poem the poet says that he is standing on the ladder and is picking apples from an apple tree.And there are some apples which are to be picked by the poet.He is tired of apple picking now as it is a cold wintry night and the cold of winter mixed with smell of apples making him sleepy and drowsy.

The poet is in a strange state of mind, he neither wants to sleep nor wishes to give up his act of apple picking while he is becoming impotent before the power of sleep.He wishes to dream of huge apples in his sleep and all the sight is becoming foggy before him.All the scene becomes so foggy and it seems as the poet is seeing all this through a thin layer of frozen sheet of ice.

The poet is constantly standing on the ladder due to which his feet are paining and his ladder is swaying with the sway of the branch of apple tree.After picking the apples ,he is pouring them into the container lying beside the stem of apple tree and he is hearing the sound of the falling apples.The poet is trying to fill the barrel but it is  empty.

The poet wants to pick the apples  carefully and not let them fall on the ground as the apple which  touches the ground and is spiked,will be of no worth in the market. 

At the end of poem, the poet is confused about his type of sleep.He does not know that which type of sleep he is going to have,whether it is a sleep of woodchuck or a normal human sleep.

How to write reference to the context?

The literal and symbolic importance of the poem

Literal means line to line translation

Symbolic means deep study

Answer:

The poem "After Apple Picking" is a master piece of English literature.If we see the poem in literal sense,we come to know, that it deals with the harvest of a farmer who desired to have a bumper crops of apple.God granted his wish but now he is tired of apple picking and wants to take rest.

But when we study different symbols used by the poet in this poem,we are forced to think it deeply.Although the poem is somewhat complicated and to some readers it becomes difficult to fully grasp its hidden layers of meaning,yet it is easy to understand the symbolic importance of the poem by an average reader,if he thinks somewhat deeply.

The poet has used the symbol of farmer.The farmer in the poem represents the human beings who are busy in their day to day work and are trying to accomplish their desires of life.The human beings are running after their desire of life.From early in the morning till late at night they are working like a blind horse.They are busy in making pots of money and in achieving their targets of life.But they tire soon.Their hands and feet start paining.They wish to take rest but their goals and targets of life do not make them sit and rest.

The poet has used the symbol of empty barrels.These empty barrels stand for our unfulfilled desires,wishes,aspirations,targets and goals.A man in his all life cherishes thousands of desires.Only some of them are fulfilled but not the all.The barrel of our wishes and desire remains empty throughout the life.This never fills completely.

Apples are the symbol of goals ,desire,deeds and actions in life.The poet is going to sleep and is seeing apples in his dreams.It means that he is visualizing his good or bad deeds,bad deeds are like spiked apples and are of no use in the life after.

Sleep is the symbol of death. Sleep is a big barrier on the way to accomplish our desires.Man wishes to do some more work but sleep-death dominates him and does not give him the chance of fulfilling the unfulfilled task and desire.

The tree is the symbol of this world.It provides us different opportunities of earning.The ladder is the symbol of the technique and methods of earning.So,It is a highly symbolic poem.