Picked to Death: Berndt Mader
Throwing all sexual connotations aside, "After Apple Picking"
is about a dying man who is pondering the accomplishments in his life,
and contemplating on the opportunities that he has let pass by. As our
narrator drowses off into his final sleep, he is tired of having had so
many options, but still he knows that his mind will have time to think and
wonder if he should regret.
As the poem starts, he is standing on his long ladder pointed towards
heaven, and looking down on the apples that he didn't pick. But, he shows
no sign of regret, for he admits that he is "done with apple-picking
now." Though he seems quite confident in this declaration, the reader
questions his sincerity as he looks down at the barrel he didn't fill.
For this is his last waking hour, and questions are sure to come while "the
essence of winter sleep is on the night."
Our narrator goes on to talk about his strange view of the "hoary
grass" through a small sheet of ice. As he is looking through this
piece of "glass", it begins to melt, thus symbolizing how his
view of the world is about to end. Although completely aware of his waning
time, he is comforted by knowing "What form [his] dreaming was about
to take.
With a somewhat optimistic outlook, he is confident of the positive
nature of his thoughts in the afterlife. He supposes that his "dreams"
shall be of his many accomplishments; a "stem" to "blossom"
overview of his life's works. The narrator also figures that his dreams
will show him how he was sturdy, swaying little, when boughs of the trees
were bending in the wind. He will see himself as strong under the heat
of a barrage of apples come rolling in.
After admitting that he has had too much of apple-picking, he seems
ready to watch the "Highlights" in his dreaming. While thinking
of how successful he has been in his "apple-picking", he begins
to wonder of the fruitful opportunities that he has let slip through his
hands and fall through to the ground. Although the fallen apples were perfectly
ripe and unharmed lying on the ground, they were not even considered and
thrown into " the cider-apple heap/ As of no worth."
Finally enlightened to the truth of his choices, he is truly concerned
of "what trouble" his sleep may bring him. He now looks at his
sleep with a more preoccupied face. He wonders if in fact he has always
chosen the right path, and if he has really taken advantage of all of his
opportunities.
©Finestkind Productions and Berndt Mader
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