Hi Again,
I need some help to understand this poem After Apple Picking. The problem is that several times I have the read this poem but could not understand why do falling images recur in the poem? Is it the central idea of the poem and what does it mean?
Hi Betty!
Sure. Let me explain it to you that yes, it is one of the central ideas of this poem and a falling image like dropping an apple represents biggest sin, fall of man and corruption. Perhaps, the poet has taken a cue from Biblical line “the wages of sin is death.” Therefore, the speaker is afraid of his death in form of a “long sleep,” and does not feel good for the apples that have fallen; instead, he defers to pitch them into an apple cider heap.