After Apple-Picking

After Apple-PickingBy: Wyatt Fulghum, Elikem DorbuBackground Info: FrostBorn in 1874; Died in 1963Winner of four Pulitzer Prizes and spoke at Kennedy inauguration.North of Boston published in 1914 in EnglandFelt homesick for New England and returned in 1915.

http://tinyurl.com/986pg32Reading of poem

WHAT DOES THE TITLE accomplish?Sets up time in speakers lifeSets up the time of dayDescribes the job of the speaker

Structure of poem pt.1Rhyme scheme is regular- transitions to highly irregular 1-6: abbacc7-12: dedfef13-16:ghhh17-22: gijigkjNo set rhyme schemeStructure of poem pt.2Iambic (1-31) Pentametervarying with diameter (1st line), and hexameter: (2nd line)Spondee at line 32: For All

SettingSetting is in the evening of an approaching winter, or otherwise late fallEx: Line 7, 10End of fall in the New England regionLine 25

toneThoughtful, contemplative atmosphereDreary, dreamy, in and outAchieved through the lack of order and questioning of life

ImageryVisualLine 18, Line 20Feeling/TouchLine 21, 34Olfactory (Smell)Line 8MovingLine 23HearingLine 25-26

http://tinyurl.com/9skeparALLUSIONLine 1: long two-pointed ladderReference to Jacobs Ladder (Genesis 28: 10-19)Line 31-36Fall of Man (Genesis 3)

http://tinyurl.com/8z97u4pCentral Ideas or ThemesApples are opportunityFulfilled, Unfulfilled, FailedApple-picking represents a lifetime (Extended Metaphor)Learning from past mistakesHuman Sleep/Hibernation

Human Sleep or HibernationSpeakers death, simply relief from apple-pickingIf Death: Afterlife or no afterlifeLines 38-42

Why is the poem still relevant today?Questions organized religion and the afterlifePresents a reconsideration of life and what it entailsBlues133255.8