Sunday, October 2, 2016

Which quote from the poem explains why the speaker left the ladder and bucket by the tree?

This poem by Robert Frost describes the apple-populated dreams and near-dreams the speaker has as he drifts off to sleep after a long day of harvesting apples. The poem begins by describing the ladder and empty bucket he has left by an apple tree. Two lines that say the same thing in different ways explain why he left the ladder and bucket there. Line 6 states straightforwardly: "But I am done with apple-picking now." He was done picking apples, so the ladder and bucket have been abandoned.
One might also wonder why he didn't bother to clean up after himself and put the ladder and bucket away. This can be understood if we read more into the words "I am done." We need to understand the exasperation and exhaustion that lace those words. The speaker elaborates further on, in lines 27 - 29:

For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.

Readers now understand that the speaker just gave up and called it a day. He had picked and picked, careful to make sure no apples fell to the ground. He had stowed "load on load" of the fruit into the cellar. Now as he lies in bed, he can only see apples, hear apples, and feel the ladder rung on the soles of his feet. He feels so physically exhausted, and so mentally and emotionally full of apples, that he likens his exhaustion to a desire to hibernate for an entire winter beside the woodchuck. So readers can understand that from sheer exhaustion—physical, mental, and emotional—he couldn't wait to leave the orchard and those apples behind and head to bed. He didn't even bother to put away the ladder and bucket that still stood by the tree.

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