AFTER APPLE PICKING BY ROBERT FROST

Signigicance of Empty Barrel

     "After Apple Picking" is a highly symbolic poem by Robert Frost.The most suggestive symbol is empty barrel. Literally, an empty barrel means "an unfilled container" but symbolically it signifies the unfulfilled human desires, the greediness of the people and the hope for bright future.

     Firstly, the empty barrel stands for the unfulfilled human desires. The poet has desired for a bumper harvest of apples but in the end his barrel remains empty. There are a few more apples on the boughs to be picked by him. But if he manages to pick the remaining few, his barrel will still not be filled!

     Secondly, the empty barrel symbolizes the greediness of the people. The poet has emptied many barrels of apples in the cellar but is not satisfied because his barrel is still empty. He yearns to get more and more. Though, in his sleep, he gets many big apples but his sleep remains uneasy due to greediness.

     Thirdly, the empty barrel signifies the hope or expectation that we attach for the bright future. The poet has emptied many barrels of common and usual apples in the cellar. But now he wants to fill his empty barrel with newer, fresher, more ripened and more juicy apples.

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