Human Imperfection Illustrated in Frost's Poem, After Apple Picking

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The poem “After Apple Picking” by Robert Frost expresses the feelings of the narrator during and after the process of harvesting apples by showing the sustainability and ambition of human spirit. Frost’s poem is an accurate reflection of life and of human imperfection through the use of repetition, literal and figurative language and various symbols. The repeated use of the word “sleep” resonates throughout the poem and suggests that the narrator is experiencing fatigue and weariness, “I am drowsing off / I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight / Upon my way to sleep before it fell / My instep arch not only keeps the ache / [Woodchuck]’s sleep” (Frost 8-21) One interpretation of sleep is a “final sleep” due to sleep’s association with winter in this piece. Because winter is most commonly associated to death of life, one may assume that was the author’s intended definition. However, a more logical and literal interpretation is the fact that the speaker is worn out and tired from picking apples, which would relate to and explain some of the other figures of speech in the poem. T...

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