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Robert FrostA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Traditionally associated with wisdom, sin, and knowledge, the apple embodies various biblical and non-stereotypical representations in Frost’s poems. Instead of stating that the speaker worries, Frost uses unpicked apples to represent the many anxieties and worries plaguing the speaker. The “[m]agnified apples” that “appear and reappear” (Line 18) can symbolize pieces of knowledge the speaker either accepted and remembers or denied. If the reader reads the poem through the lens of an elderly speaker examining their life prior to death, Line 18 may also refer to the way memory can come in bits and starts.
The apples may also represent opportunities the speaker failed to seize when they had the chance. Using a biblical interpretation of the apple, the fruit may represent sin and was the tool the serpent utilized to cause the fall of man (Lines 30-35). As symbols of sin and corruption, the apples “[t]hat struck the earth” (Line 33) represent the fall of humankind after Eve accepted the apple from the Garden of Eden. Essentially unblemished, the apples “not bruised or spiked with stubble” (Line 34) that “[w]ent surely to the cider-apple heap” (Line 35) may represent those who, despite their good intentions and goodwill, never received salvation and were condemned to hell.
By Robert Frost
Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost
A Time To Talk
Robert Frost
Birches
Robert Frost
Dust of Snow
Robert Frost
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Mending Wall
Robert Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Robert Frost
October
Robert Frost
Once by the Pacific
Robert Frost
Out, Out—
Robert Frost
Putting in the Seed
Robert Frost
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
The Death of the Hired Man
Robert Frost
The Gift Outright
Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
West-Running Brook
Robert Frost