Home Burial poem summary

1. My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree: The speaker introduces the image of a ladder in an apple orchard, suggesting the end of a day of apple picking.
2. Toward heaven still: The ladder reaches upward, indicating the speaker’s elevated position.
3. And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill: Despite the speaker’s efforts, there are apples left in a barrel, implying a sense of unfulfilled work.After apple picking poem summary line by line in english
4. Beside it, and there may be two or three apples I didn’t pick upon some bough: The speaker acknowledges that some apples were left unpicked on the branches.
5. But I am done with apple-picking now. The speaker declares that the apple-picking season is over for him.After apple picking poem summary line by line in english
6. Essence of winter sleep is on the night, There’s a suggestion that winter, a time of dormancy, is approaching.After apple picking poem summary line by line in english
7. The scent of apples: I am drowsing off. The lingering smell of apples lulls the speaker to sleep, perhaps suggesting a state of weariness.
8. I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight: The speaker experiences a distortion of perception, possibly due to fatigue or drowsiness.
9. I got from looking through a pane of glass I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough The speaker refers to a piece of ice he collected earlier in the day, hinting at the passage of time.
10. And held against the world of hoary grass. It melted, and I let it fall and break. The ice symbolizes the passage of time, and the speaker lets it melt and break, indicating a sense of impermanence.
11. But I was well Upon my way to sleep before it fell, And I could tell What form my dreaming was about to take. The speaker was already drifting off to sleep and could sense the direction his dreams were taking.
12. Magnified apples appear and disappear, The speaker describes a dream-like state where enlarged apples come into focus and then fade away, suggesting a blurred line between reality and dreams.
13. Stem end and blossom end, The different parts of the apples are highlighted, emphasizing their completeness.
14. And every fleck of russet showing clear. The details of the apples, such as the russet (brownish) spots, are vivid in the dream.
15. My instep arch not only keeps the ache, The speaker’s body aches from the physical labor of apple picking.
16. It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round. The arch of the speaker’s foot bears the pressure of standing on a rounded rung of a ladder.
17. And I keep hearing from the cellar bin The rumbling sound Of load on load of apples coming in. The speaker hears the sound of apples being stored in the cellar, highlighting the abundance of the harvest.
18. For I have had too much Of apple-picking: I am overtired Of the great harvest I myself desired. The speaker confesses that he’s exhausted and overwhelmed by the bountiful harvest he once eagerly sought.
19. There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch, Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall. The sheer quantity of apples is emphasized, each one requiring care in handling.
20. For all That struck the earth, No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble, Went surely to the cider-apple heap As of no worth. Even the apples that fell without being damaged were considered of no value and destined for the cider heap.
21. One can see what will trouble This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is. 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. The speaker reflects on the nature of the upcoming sleep, wondering if it will resemble the long hibernation of a woodchuck or a more typical human sleep.
22. A long, long sleep, a famous sleep That makes no difference with the breaking of the glass. The speaker envisions a prolonged and significant sleep that is indifferent to the passage of time.
23. And I have kept from going to sleep, And what it was That woke a pang in me, I’m sure it was not fear, But fear’s a thing I hate. The speaker resists falling asleep, and whatever caused a pang in him wasn’t fear, though he despises fear.
24. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: The speaker anticipates recounting this experience in the future, with a sigh indicating a mixture of regret and reflection.
25. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, This last line is actually from Frost’s more famous poem, “The Road Not Taken,” and it does not belong to “After Apple-Picking.”

After apple picking poem