After Apple-Picking BY ROBERT FROST

Poem :

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree 

Toward heaven still, 

And there's a barrel that I didn't fill 

Beside it, and there may be two or three 

Apples I didn't pick upon some bough. 

But I am done with apple-picking now. 

Essence of winter sleep is on the night, 

The scent of apples: I am drowsing off. 

I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight 

I got from looking through a pane of glass 

I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough 

And held against the world of hoary grass. 

It melted, and I let it fall and break. 

But I was well 

Upon my way to sleep before it fell, 

And I could tell 

What form my dreaming was about to take. 

Magnified apples appear and disappear, 

Stem end and blossom end, 

And every fleck of russet showing clear. 

My instep arch not only keeps the ache, 

It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round. 

I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend. 

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin 

The rumbling sound 

Of load on load of apples coming in. 

For I have had too much 

Of apple-picking: I am overtired 

Of the great harvest I myself desired. 

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch, 

Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall. 

For all 

That struck the earth, 

No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble, 

Went surely to the cider-apple heap 

As of no worth. 

One can see what will trouble 

This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is. 

Were he not gone, 

The woodchuck could say whether it's like his 

Long sleep, as I describe its coming on, 

Or just some human sleep. 

Note''

@Unfinished desire --work of human life before death 

@a dying man who is looking back on his life, his unfinished work 

Theme :

Literally the poem means the speakers tiredness after apple-picking and his-consequent dream about the too profuse supply of apples.
Metaphorically it means  we can not finish our work even for what we desire and die when our work remains   unfinished .....

Summery :

The speakers's long tow pointed ladder is striking through a tree towards heaven .There is still a barrel unfilled and two apples unpicked .
Meanwhile the speaker feels sleepy being in the scent of apples. When he sleep in his dream magnified apples appear and disappear and stem end and blossom end .
He has had too much of apple picking ,He overtired of the harvest that he himself desires .
there were thousands of apple still to touch in the ground .


One can see what sort of sleep the speaker is going to have and what is going to disturb it .Perhaps the woodchuck could have said whether it is like his ling sleep or like some human sleep . 

Analysis

Robert Frost said, "A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom" . This is a philosophy of Frost that he put into the creation of After Apple-Picking. 

The title After Apple-Picking illustrates that the poem is of a dying man who is looking back on his life, represented by apple picking, and of his regret for uncompleted desires. The old man only wishes that he could do more before he dies, hoping it would give meaning to his life. 


Robert Frost uses tone, rhythm and diction, and figurative language to develop the theme of life's desires and significance in existence.

The poem begins with a happy tone. The old man is happy and welcomes his fate of death. He shows this by saying things like he is ready for heaven; he is finally done with picking apples.He is indicating that he has finished everything planned and is ready for his judgment.

This tone sets up the theme of desires and the significance in life, but does not complete it. The later part of the poem is sad. He is finally accepting his fate, when he realizes that he was wrong and there were things he wished to complete. 

Frost develops a sad mood by using other words in the poem. Word such as "overtired" in line twenty eight and "struck the earth" in line thirty three create a sad sense.
These words represent the regrets of the old man. Overtired shows that he is finished chasing his dreams and must put them behind him.The rhythm and diction both are Frost's way of telling people that they should make the most of their lives and do whatever they aspire for before it is too late.


The poem has no stanza .The whole poem is one stanza.The lines are in free verse in which rhyme is not essential element .But still there are some internal rhymes and end rhymes that impart musicality to the poem ..

The speaker of the poem is a symbol of every man .A man desires many things in life ,but he cannot realize them all .The speakers going to sleep in liveryman's end of life ,l;leaving many things still undone .

Tone, rhythm, diction, and figurative