Title of After Apple Picking :
A veritable embodiment of the Frostian philosophy – “A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom”, the poem “After Apple Picking” presents a simple theme that how peacefully an overtired villager is lulled to sleep by “the essence of winter sleep”, Nature. In human life, we always think about what may happen after our death. This” after” or this future is encoded here in this poem in a very extraordinary poetic manner.
The title is not only significant thematically but also semantically and syntactically, laying bare the defamiliarization concept of the poet. “Apple” and “Picking” symbolize materialism and our effort to transact materialistic affairs respectively, while “After” connotes the post-death situation, questioning the capacity of materialistic activities to satisfy ourselves. The speaker’s ladder points toward “heaven still,” and yet he cannot climb it because he’s plagued by reminders of the tasks that he’s still to complete on Earth. These loose ends are signified here by images of apples left unpicked and barrels left unfilled. He is tired of apple picking so he desires a sleep. Under the surface level of an apple picker working in an orchard in winter season, the poem metaphorically suggests the tiredness every human being feels in the winter of his life when material profits – however lucrative they be like the juicy beautiful apples – become inane and the process of repetitive worldly bargain bereft of mental solitude and satisfaction seem worthless. Towards the end of the poem, a contrast is made between long sleep and human sleep which is very significant. Quite contrary to the end note of ” Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” – a firm resolution of ” miles to go before I sleep” – the speaker surrenders his energy before the mighty monotony of life and wishes for the final call.
Thus, the title is appropriate in suggesting the pan-human physio-spiritual lethargy to continue the fruitless cycle of action and the desire to transcend humanness and life.
