After Apple-Picking

After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost is a fascinating poem. I've casually listened to it and read it at least a dozen times.  It has a wonderful flow to it. I only know a little bit about Frost, but what I know is that his poems are never what they seem to be at first glance.


It feels like in this poem he may be talking about looking back over one's life with the coming of death. It seems like there are little hints that it is about coming death throughout the whole piece,

Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

Both winter and sleep (or drowsing off) could be referring to death.
The apples that the speaker has picked could be accomplishments or maybe just segments of life. So when he talks about apples that hit the ground, "No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble" he could be talking about wasted opportunities, and maybe when he talks about them being turned into cider he is talking about learning from mistakes.


There is so much to this poem, lurking beneath the surface. I'm excited to dive into a little more.




1.) How is the title of the poem working?  What information is it giving?  How would the poem be different with a different title? 


The title "After Apple-Picking" launches the reader directly into the heart of the poem. Without the title the poem would have the same overall meaning because it doesn't give us any information that the poem itself doesn't eventually give us. However, the title lets us know the setting of the poem before we start reading it. Without the title it would take a little while before we knew what was going on.  


2.) List all of words you don’t know, or think you don’t know.  Look them up in the dictionary.  Write them down.

• Hoary
• Overtired (honorable mention, because it is a great word)

3.) Read the poem out loud.  What sounds do you notice in the poem?  Is there rhyme?  Are there any repeated sounds?  Write down the sounds you hear at work in the poem.


This is a tough question to me because of the overwhelming amount of repeated sounds within this poem. But there does not seem to be a definite pattern. There are lots of rhymes at the end of lines, but it seems almost chaotic. He even puts rhymes within the same line a few times. Maybe this scattered rhyme system is another way he saying something about life. If that is the case, perhaps he is suggesting that although life doesn't always follow a predictable pattern, that doesn't mean that it doesn't have rhythm. 


He also uses a large variety of rhymes. He doesn't come back to any of his rhyming pairs. For instance he rhymes "still" and "fill" and never revisits the "ill" rhyme. Perhaps this too speaks to part of what is beautiful about life. 


4.) What is literally happening in the poem?  Write a paragraph describing what is going on.  Where is this happening?  Who are the people in the poem?

On the surface the poem is about a lone apple-picker, thinking about his day of apple-picking. He talks about how much the the "harvest [he himself] desired" has worn him out. It even seems that this harvest that he had wished for is now going to haunt his dreams, "One can see what will trouble/ This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is."

5.) What are the images in the poem?  List five images you see in detail.  What do you know about them?  How is the poem using imagery?



This poem is filled to the brim with vivid imagery. Here are five:


1.

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still,

2.

I cannot rub the strangeness from my sightI got from looking through a pane of glassI skimmed this morning from the drinking troughAnd held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.

3.

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.

4.

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

5.

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.

Frost uses imagery to add depth to this poem. Every image seems to be a metaphor for something. I feel like I could spend a really long time diving into the possible meanings of all these images. However, the one the baffles me most is the woodchuck. On the surface he is saying that if the woodchuck were around he could tell him whether or not he was about to hibernate (by the way, I had to look up whether or not woodchucks actually hibernate) or just sleep through the night like normal. I'm not sure what that means on a deeper level, though. What is the woodchuck? Is hibernation being related to death - "long sleep?" And why isn't the woodchuck around? Maybe he's already hibernating. 

6.) What do you know about the speaker?  List ten facts you can infer (the If-Then game).

1.

The speaker has mixed feelings about harvesting all those apples. On the one hand he cherished each apple. On the other hand they haunt him. Even when he wants to rest he can't help thinking about the apples left unpicked, the barrels left unfilled, and the apples in the cider heap.

2.

The speaker may have bitten off more than he could chew,

For I have had too muchOf apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.

3.
He wishes he could have accomplished more.


4.
It seems that although he is overtired he doesn't feel worthy of the rest he desires because of the parts of the job left unfinished.


5.
He seems conflicted about the fallen fruit. He says they,

Went surely to the cider-apple heapAs of no worth.

When he says, "As of no worth" it seems to me like saying, "as if they have no worth," which to implies that they really do have worth, even though they are being treated as if they don't. Their worth comes from their redemption from apples to cider, which is to say that they still have worth as apples.


6.
He is too tired to continue working or pursue his dreams, but he is not too tired to worry about what he should have done.


7.
He seems to question the way he sees the world when he talks about how he can't shake the strangeness that came from looking through a piece of ice. Looking through the ice seems to represent how he sees things, and he lets it break.






7.) Write a paragraph describing the tone of the poem.  Remember, tone is the speaker’s attitude toward his/her subject.  Most attitudes in poetry will be complex, i.e. more that one attitude.  List 10 words you think helps set this tone.



The tone is absolutely complex. The speaker is conflicted. He is haunted both by the work he completed and the work he failed to finish. Even though he wanted the abundant harvest he received, he seems to battle with whether or not it was what he really wanted in the end. 


Ten Tone Words:


1. Winter
2. Sleep
3. Hoary
4. Overtired
5. Touch
6. Cherished
7. Ten thousand thousand
8. Worth
9. Break
10. Appear/Disappear


8.) Does the poem have a formal structure?  If not, what effect does the lack of structure have?  If so, what effect does the structure have on the meaning of the poem?


I guess I'm not really sure what formal structure in a poem looks like. But I would say that it seems to be structured, although I can't see a discernible pattern. The structure makes it easy to read. The lack of stanzas is interesting. There are distinct thoughts, but they all run together. This creates a dream-like effect.


9.) Where does the tension lie in the poem?  Poetic tension can come in many forms. Is there any conflict in the plot/action of the poem?  Do images form a tension? Does the speaker and/or tone create tension in the poem?  List three poetic tensions you see at work.



1.
There is an overall tension going on within the the speaker. He doesn't know how to feel about the job he has done. He is haunted by what he has and hasn't done,

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.

2.
There is tension in the imagery when he talks about his vision of the world,

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.

To me, there is a tension between melting and breaking. "Breaking" sounds so much more violent and quick, where "melting" sounds like something that would happen over a long time. But I suppose that melting could be a form of breaking. Perhaps when men break it in this melting fashion. It doesn't happen all at once. Maybe this is a poem about a man breaking.


3.
There is the consistent tension between the desire for peaceful sleep and the knowledge that it will not come,

One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.

10.)Are their any images, phrases, words, and sounds in the poem that you can't shake out of your head?  List three that resonate with you.


1. "Overtired"
2. "Pane of glass"/ "Hoary grass"
3. "Cherish in hand"




This poem has so much depth, I feel like I could spend many, many hours exploring all the possible meanings. During this short excursion I have been surprised by the many layers this poem has. It seems to both about the beauty and the frustration of life's imperfections. 

Poets

I'm thinking about using the upcoming poems by Frost and the poems by Crane. Not so sure about how I'm going to compare or contrast them yet. Mostly I'm fascinated by both their works and want to find a way to write about them together.

Conflicting Views of Freedom

While reading Washington and Du Bois I took some notes. Primarily this was to see the differences between them, but I did try to look for some areas where they agreed. Under “Crossover” I only had listed that, “They both believed that Africans had something to offer the world.” Beyond that there was not much they came together on.

In Washington's “Up from Slavery” he encourages everybody to “Cast down your bucket where you are” (443). By this he means that blacks and whites could benefit a lot from one another if only they would respect one another. He promotes the idea of equality through partnership.

While addressing the white population he says “Casting down your bucket among my people, helping and encouraging them as you are doing on these grounds, and to education of head, hand, and heart, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom the waste places in your fields, and run your factories” (443). He assures the white folks that if they help bring the freed slaves up to speed they will have a future just as secure as it was in the past, and that the black folks will be the most “law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world has ever seen” (443).

Washington seems eager to move past the pain of slavery and into a new era. He's not idealistic. Although he desires social equality he's looking for stepping stones towards that goal. He states, “The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in a opera house” (444). He knows that complete change can't happen over night and seeks to achieve smaller measurable goals. He seems optimistic.

Du Bois is quite the opposite. His anger is very apparent. In fact, for me, his anger was far easier to discern than his proposals. He talks a lot about the dissatisfaction of the newly freed slaves, “The nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land” (456). He seems to be saying that partial freedom is no freedom at all. Or perhaps he's asking, “what's the point of freeing blacks if you're not going to make them equal socially?”

He seems to question the true intentions of the white folks, “what shall save us from a second slavery?” It seems that he is saying that without complete freedom they are still in a type of slavery. He goes on to say that, “Freedom, too, the long-sought, we still seek, - the freedom of life and limb, the freedom to work and think, the freedom to love and aspire” (459). These are freedoms he clearly does not believe the “freed” slaves have, and he is pessimistic about the future.

The Depth Irony

Hannah sites a really interesting section as being verbally ironic in “The Passing of Grandison.” She says,

when the father says is talking about how Tom is too smart to trust among the 'low-down abolitionists'. I find it ironic because he is saying he is too smart because he can read. I guess it may not be irony but the wording seems like it to me

Hannah gets into something I've been thinking a little bit about, and that is the abstract depth of irony. There is a less clear kind of irony going on in this situation. It is ironic that Chestnutt is putting such outlandish statements in the colonel's mouth – statements Chestnutt clearly does not believe himself. What makes it fuzzy it the fact that the character speaking the words actually does believe them. It is how over the top they are that I feel makes them ironic to the heart of the author.

Irony in “The Passing of Grandison”

This whole story is spun in irony. What you expect is constantly shifting. Because of the shifting expectations, some things are ironic immediately and some things are ironic in retrospect.

Situational Irony:

1. One good example of situational irony is found on page 234, “The colonel was beaming. This was true gratitude, and his feudal heart thrilled at such appreciative homage.” This is ironic first of all because, in our perspective, the last thing a slave should be grateful for is his slavery, and in this case this is exactly what is being expressed. What I quoted is the colonel's reaction to Grandison's confession of gratitude, which is also ironic considering the ending.
   
   
2. My second example is on page 235. The colonel is warning Granison about abolitionists, “They're a desperate set of lunatics, and there's no telling what they may resort to. But if you stick to your young master, and remember always that he is your best friend, and understands your real needs, and has your true interests at heart...” This quote is ironic on a couple different levels too. First of all, it's a counterintuitive description for us of abolitionists. More directly relating to the story though: it is ironic that, in some way, Dick really does have his best interest at heart (even though his motivations are incredibly selfish).

Verbal Irony:

1. I find most of what Grandison says to be verbally ironic. It's really hard to tell in what ways he is really sincere. His actions throughout most of the story point to complete sincerity, however the ending points to the opposite. Perhaps something changed in him on his trip back to the south.
   
   An example of this is on page 236 and occurs after Dick asks Grandison if he's met any free black folks, “Yas, suh, I's seen some of 'em. But I don't keer nuffin fer 'em, suh.” He goes on to describe them saying, “dey aint got sense 'nuff ter know dey ain' half as well off as dey would be down Souf, whar dey'd be 'preciated.”
   
   
2. My second example of verbal irony comes from Chesnutt on pag 237, “[Dick] did not even scold Grandison; how could he, indeed, find fault with one who sensibly recognized his true place in the economy of civilization...” This strikes me as ironic, because Dick is trying to make Grandison free, while all the while admiring him for sticking to his lot in life.

Polarized

"The Storm" is a powerful story, and brings out a higher level of controversy than most I've read in a classroom. I was intrigued by what both of my blog buddies had to say about it.

Bree states,

Her affair with Alcee essentially renewed her outlook on her life and her marriage, for her it was a breath of fresh air that she so desperately needed. The same goes
for Alcee as well, when he got home he wrote a “loving letter, full of tender
solicitude” (227) to his wife proving that his brief affair with Calixta did not break
his marriage or falter his love for her.

I found myself on the complete other side of this idea. I didn't feel like this was simply a “breath of fresh air” for either of them. Calixta, it seemed to me, felt a sense of relief when her husband came home, not a sense of renewed commitment to them. This is fascinating to me because we both looked at the same evidence. We see how she reacts in the opposite way Bobinôt expects her to. Instead of being mad that he and their son are dirty she seems to be just happy that they have arrived safe. This is the instance that, I think, both Bree and I look at to support our ideas. While to Bree it appears that Calixta sees her family with a new sense of fondness and so doesn't care what state their clothes are in, to me I see someone who is acting contrary to her normal self. It seems to me that Calixta is acting extra nice in order to cover up the guilt and shame she is feeling. Of course, Chopin doesn't give us a clear look into her motivations. I suppose that's part of what makes this story so powerful.

Similarly, I took Alcee's letter quite the same way. I feel like the motivation behind his sending the letter is to keep his wife from coming back anytime soon. He lathers her with love and affection so she will stay away from him, so that he can continue his affair with Calixta. 

Looking at Happiness in "The Storm"

It is not hard to see why this piece by Chopin would be so controversial, especially in the time it was written. On the surface it certainly appears to be, on some level, endorsing infidelity. It seems to be saying that what people don't know won't hurt them. The last line seems to contradict how most people, including myself, feel about infidelity.

So the question is, what is this happiness? Is it real or is it facetious? Can someone truly be happy both in their marriage and their affair? I certainly don't think so, not if there is really any love in the marriage.

No one in this story seems to be truly satisfied. They are content, in a way, to be fake, to put forward a version of themselves that appeases their spouse. No one is faithful, except maybe Bobinôt, but who knows what he would have done if not trapped inside of the store with his son. The author doesn't show us remorse from any of the characters.

What I am trying to say is that these characters are not truly “happy.” Their happiness is haphazard and as destructive as the storm can be. Their relationships are as much in turmoil as the dark clouds that hung overhead.

I feel like there is a deeper symbolism that goes beyond the obvious, that indeed contradicts how the characters appear to feel.