Apple Picking

After Apple –Picking Robert Frost “Upon my way to sleep before it fell, And I could tell What form my dreaming was about to take.” There is no question here of tones playing against a traditional form; rather, an original rhythmic form grows out of the dramatic setting and the initial commitment in tone. Pre-sleep and sleepy reminiscence of the day condition all that is said, and the speaker's first words show what form his …

…to the woodchuck's sleep and back to the initial balance of tones in 'sticking through a tree / Toward heaven still.' The poem is absorbed with 'states-between,' not only of winter sleep, but of all similar areas where real and unreal appear and disappear. 'After Apple-Picking' illustrates that 'the poet is a person consenting to dream of reality.' The 'consent' in this instance I believe is implied in the perfection of the form.