The poem has many end-rhymes but has no regular arrangement, which makes it difficult to follow. The length of each line also changes from long to short. This shows progression within the poem. The rhythm of the poem is slow which implies that the hard work of picking apples has drained all of his energy. “Sleep” is a dominant image and is repeated 6 times throughout the poem. This emphasizes the mood of the speaker or how the speaker is feeling.
The speaker explains that he was on his way to sleep even before the morning. The first two lines of the poem, “My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree toward heaven still,” make a reference to heaven, which may suggest that the speaker is approaching death. The poem is taking place during the season of winter. The season of winter is symbolically related to death because it is the “death” of the year. The hibernation of the woodchuck also may represent death. In the poem, the speaker is expressing his feelings after a hard day’s work of picking apples. The line, “My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree,” shows ladder in the poem belongs to the apple picker. The word “long” and the “o” sound stress how tired the speaker is from going up and down the ladder. The line, “Toward heaven still,” describes how the speaker is standing on his ladder looking up towards heaven. Perhaps, the apples represent life’s responsibilities and chores and he is awaiting death but “heaven” is blocked by these responsibilities. The line, “But I am done with apple picking now,” shows that the speaker is decisive and knows when to quit picking apples. This line also creates a sense of his laziness.
The line, “Essence of winter sleep is on the night,” also revisits the idea that winter represents death. The lines, “I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight. I got from looking through a pane of glass, I skimmed this morning from the water-trough, And held against the world of hoary grass,” create strong images of winter and a cold, frosty, morning in the mind of the audience. The line, “But I was well, Upon my way to sleep before it fell” emphasizes the feeling of tiredness as he is thinking about the day in his mind. The tense changes throughout the poem which makes it difficult to distinguish between reality and his dream/imagination. The alliteration in lines, “And I could tell What form my dreaming was about to take. Magnified apples appear and reappear,” suggest that his dream is repeating. The lines, “Of load on load of apples coming in” and “For I have had too much Of apple picking: I am overtired” also show that the speaker is physically and mentally tired. The colon in the sentence also emphasizes his tiredness. The line “There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,” contains the word “thousand” twice which makes it seem like the number of apples he is picking is infinite. The line, “Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall,” contains many commas, which creates pauses and also shows that the speaker is very tired.
In the poem “Apple-Picking”, the apples represent the choices and decisions the speaker makes in his life. The speaker’s choices and decisions, both good and bad, have shaped his life and fate. The title is "After Apple Picking" which illustrates a reflection upon the speaker’s after everything is over. I like this poem because it is easy relate to what he is feeling.
