Summary:
“After Apple-Picking” is a lyric poem by Robert Frost, first published in 1914 in North of Boston. The poem is a reflection on life, work, and exhaustion, using the metaphor of apple-picking to explore deeper themes of ambition, fulfillment, and mortality.
The speaker, a weary apple-picker, has completed his harvest but is tired and drowsy, drifting between wakefulness and sleep. He reflects on the apples he has picked and those he has missed, symbolizing opportunities taken and lost. The poem suggests a transition between life and death, as the speaker wonders whether his sleep will be just ordinary rest or the eternal sleep of death.
Frost’s use of imagery, dream-like tone, and symbolism makes the poem open to multiple interpretations. It can be seen as a meditation on the cycle of life, the burden of work, or the inevitability of aging and death.
MCQs:
- Who wrote the poem After Apple-Picking?
A) Walt Whitman
B) Emily Dickinson
C) Robert Frost
D) William Wordsworth
Answer: C) Robert Frost - In which year was After Apple-Picking published?
A) 1912
B) 1914
C) 1916
D) 1923
Answer: B) 1914 - What does apple-picking symbolize in the poem?
A) The beauty of nature
B) Hard work and life’s achievements
C) The changing seasons
D) The dangers of farming
Answer: B) Hard work and life’s achievements - What is the main theme of the poem?
A) Celebration of harvest
B) Reflection on life and death
C) The joy of farming
D) The importance of sleep
Answer: B) Reflection on life and death - What is the speaker feeling throughout the poem?
A) Energetic and excited
B) Weary and drowsy
C) Confused and frustrated
D) Hopeful and cheerful
Answer: B) Weary and drowsy - Which literary device is used in the phrase “magnified apples appear and disappear”?
A) Simile
B) Metaphor
C) Imagery
D) Alliteration
Answer: C) Imagery - What does the speaker compare his drowsiness to?
A) A bird’s flight
B) A woodchuck’s hibernation
C) A river’s flow
D) A child’s dream
Answer: B) A woodchuck’s hibernation - What does the speaker regret in the poem?
A) Not finishing his work
B) The apples he let fall
C) Choosing farming as a career
D) The arrival of winter
Answer: B) The apples he let fall - What does the speaker’s sleep possibly symbolize?
A) A long winter’s nap
B) Escape from reality
C) Death or eternal rest
D) A dream about apples
Answer: C) Death or eternal rest - Which poetic form is used in After Apple-Picking?
A) Sonnet
B) Free verse
C) Blank verse
D) Haiku
Answer: C) Blank verse
Question | Answer |
Poem Name | After Apple-Picking |
Poet | Robert Frost |
Year Published | 1914 |
Main Themes | Life’s work, Exhaustion, Reflection, Death |
Symbolism | Apples = Life’s opportunities, Sleep = Death or rest |
Tone | Reflective, Melancholic, Dream-like |
Poetic Form | Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) |
Famous Lines | “For I have had too much / Of apple-picking: I am overtired.” |