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A colleague's forum post on why poems should not be over-analyzed; The things we do to keep English class entertaining...
Topic Started: Jan 14 2011, 02:18 AM (48 Views)
Albino
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Alright, so it pisses me off how much some (most) people over-analyze poetry (especially Frost), so here is a completely bull ** post on how After Apple-Picking “juxtaposes Frost’s ode to autumn with his homosexual nostalgia and frustrating impotence”. Similarly, I will juxtapose this “fake” forum post with a “real” one, in order to underscore how equally ridiculous both sides of the poetry over-analysis spectrum are. I will spend about thirty minutes on this because I really do not care about proving my point THAT much. So let’s just have a little fun, shall we?
Very good then, let us begin:


In Frost’s After Apple-Picking, the narrator reflects back upon his homosexual experiences and muses about his future. As in every poem, the best way to form conclusions as to the narrator’s point is to analyze the text line by line ;DDDD!!!! (sarcastic).

Ok, so in the beautiful first two lines, Frost uses a ladder to metaphorically represent his libido and a tree to metaphorically represent the threshold of complacency. “Toward heaven still” is used to emphasize just how much he burns with desire, as heaven is often thought of as the highest possible point; there is nothing higher and nothing greater. So basically, Frost is ‘extremely lustful’ (I’m trying to avoid phrases like “horny as hell), and frustrated because he cannot fulfill his desires.

Confused as to why he uses a ladder and a tree? Good! Let’s talk about it ;). The use of “two-pointed ladder” is both irony and periphrasis. All ladders in Frost's time were two-pointed, with the points connected by rungs. Therefore, Frost is stating the obvious so that he can incorporate the periphrasis into the poem, wherein “two-pointed ladder” will come to represent “phallus”.

The reason for using “tree”? Well, the ceiling of a forest is the highest quantifiable height one can visually see, and perhaps even measure, before reaching the sky and the great expanse behind. Again, the fact that his “ladder” extends beyond this ceiling, means that he is really, really, in the mood. This is probably what prompted him to write the poem in the first place.

Where is the irony you ask? Well as we will see as the poem progresses, although the narrator’s libido is higher and more pronounced than is conceivably possible (catachresis in the first line? ;p), he is still physically impotent.

Ok, I’m going to go a little bit quicker now and just outline because that 400 words of BS analysis was on the first TWO lines only, and primarily the first line at that.

Now, before moving on let’s get one thing straight so that I don’t have to point it out every time the freaking word comes up. Frost uses apples to represent penises (derived from Adam’s apple, both Adam from the Bible [apple from the tree] and the dangly thing on a man’s throat).

LINE THREE!!! And four…and five. So yeah barrel means mouth. He didn’t fill someone’s mouth with his apple juice. Nice. Moving onnnnnn

This “barrel” is beside his “ladder”. Basically, Frost is eliciting the timeless cliché of ‘so close, yet so far away’. He has the means to fulfill his desires, but his impotence restricts this fulfillment. The apples beside the “barrel” that he didn’t pick (suck) upon [some large tree branch…let’s say representative of a person’s trunk (torso)]…not even going to waste my time stating the obvious here.

So let’s move down to essence of winter sleep. Winter is the ending of the harvest – harvest is also representative of fertility – the essence of something is its intrinsic nature, its “indispensible quality” – so basically Frost is saying that the essence of winter, which is ‘indispensably’ impotence and old age (winter represents the end of life too) is upon him.

The next ten lines are better discussed as a whole, instead of one-by-one. Soooo. Frost shifts his perspective starting in line 8. “The scent”, which evokes past memories puts Frost into a dreamlike state where he is teetering on the fringe between his current reality and his past experiences. Frost becomes entrapped in this state, and is unable to distinguish between the past and the present. We see this in lines ten through twelve. Frost’s impotence is a mysterious new sensation. He realizes his problem as he accesses a memory (looked through a “pane of glass) that he picked out of his brain (drinking trough, a trough holds liquid, and one drinks this liquid to sustain himself or herself. Frost draws from this trough the memories that allow him to maintain his sense of self), and finds that it cannot stay solid (hard), even when “held against the world of hoary grass”.

Here Frost wants us to think he’s being kinda cute by using hoary (grey or what as of w/ age) and grass (representative of long life). Well yes, he is being clever, but in a different way. He is using a play on the word ‘hoary’. Think of this: hoar = ***. Even when held against the memory of his long life getting all the men, Frost is unable to maintain an erection.

Finally, the sleep symbolism that is prevalent towards the end of the poem comes into view. But what does sleep mean?! Ladies and gentlemen, “sleep” is a loss of sexual potency. Big surprise there right? That was a rhetorical question (tee hee).

Mk. Lines fourteen through seventeen is Frost acknowledging that his impotence didn’t just happen; it became progressively harder and harder for him to stay hard. That was blatantly perverse, yet true. He also talks about how he knew that although he could no longer fulfill his desires, the need and want for sexual intimacy would not dissipate.

Examine the kinesthetic imagery in Frost’s memories described in lines eighteen through twenty. It’s nasty. Ok forgive me, but I am going to elaborate. Magnified “apples”. In Frost’s current position (on his knees?) the “apples” look bigger (because they are right in front of his face?), and they “appear and disappear” “stem end and blossom end” (as he moves his head back and forth?). And the “fleck of russet showing clear”, well, um, are skin and russet not similar in color? Ok you definitly get my point, and I’m getting nauseous, so let us move on.

Why couldn’t “instep arch” just mean foot? Well, this is Frost so let us look at other possible alternatives. Instep = shaped like inner arch of a foot. K. Arch = curved symmetrical structure. So it must be foot! But wait…the small of your back…O God same shape. Yeah Frost is taking about how he can remember the ache in the small of his back (right above his butt) due to the pressure of the round “ladder”. Remember what ladder means? Yeah, f’ed up.

Line 23! So we know what “ladder” means. We know that “sway” means move rhythmically back and forth. We know what “bough” represents from line five. Translated into un-symbolized grammar line 23 reads: I feel the [yeah…] move back and forth as the man bends over. Oh my goodness thanks for that very special memory Frost!

This keeps getting better and better! Before moving on, let’s define “bin”. It’s a receptacle! What’s a cellar? A damp, wide room at the bottom of a house. Ok. So the rumbling sound coming from the cellar bins? Well frost uses a little bit of onomatopoeia with the word “rumbling” to give you an idea of this sound.

But wait, we must translate the metaphor! I’m sick of this so I’m not going to “beat around the bush (lol pun…) ”; I’m going to be blunt. Cellar bin= butt. Frost is recalling the sound of “load on load of apples coming in” to his cellar bin. What do apples symbolize? “Coming”? REALLY.

In line 27 Frost begins to come to terms with his situation, and tries to rationalize why it is that he has become impotent. Maybe he’s had too much? Worn himself out? Ten thousand “fruit” to touch…

O boy line 31 more kinesthetic imagery! “Cherish in hand (hold in hand), lift down (make the ‘lifting down’ motion with your hand), not let fall (hold upright). It’s getting so obvious now it’s barely worth analyzing.

Lines 32 through 36. Here it is in English. All of the “apples” that could not stay upright, even if they were not bruised (deformed, etc.) or spiked with stubble (poorly shaven) went surely to the “cider-apple heap”, worthless. Apples for cider are crushed to a pulp to the point where they are no longer even apples. Frost uses this metaphor simply to highlight how worthless these apples are.

Time to “finish”. Lines 37 through 42. Talking about his loss of sexual potency. Why does Frost mention the woodchuck? How does the woodchuck have a long loss of sexual potency? Here we go. Conclusion time baby. Woodchucks can only mate one month out of the year (March through April if you actually care) the rest of the year the animals are not sexually active. So Frost is wondering if his impotence is seasonal like the woodchuck’s, or part of a human’s constant deterioration, which would make it permanent.



EDIT: I have 313 posts now.
Edited by Albino, Jan 14 2011, 02:19 AM.
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