Thematic Bridges in English Literature:

Thematic Bridges in English Literature: Frost's "After Apple-picking" and Shakespeare's the Tempest

The passage of time, especially from the perspective of a human life, is one of the most universally resounding and consistent themes in the literature and poetry of any age. Given the symbolism and imagery in many examples of this theme throughout world literature, it is safe to assume that the correlation of other observed changes in nature -- the passing of the seasons and the seasons themselves, especially -- with human mortality is a natural and almost automatic human sentiment. Two very different yet remarkably similar examples of this theme, and the purpose of illuminating the transience of human life, are Robert Frost's poem "After Apple Picking," and the epilogue spoken by Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Prospero speaks more directly on the theme of mortality and the changes wrought by the passage of time on an individual's life and identity. He approaches the topic from a more pessimistic view then does Frost, as well, seeing in his old age and arguably even in his own mortality a certain sense of freedom and release. His repeated use of words like "confined," "pardon'd," "release," "relieved," and "mercy" all indicate the freedom from earthly troubles that Prospero is seeking. This figurative message of a freedom from imprisonment is also an implicit reference to the literal freedom from the prison of this world, and the salvation found in the next, as evidenced by the use of the words "prayers" and "indulgences later in the poem. The purpose of this epilogue, then, is an instruction to the viewer/reader on what truly matters, which is not so much the passing of the joys of this life, but rather the passing of the ills, the limitations, and the human folly.

In "After Apple-picking," the speaker reflects explicitly only on the feel of picking apples, and the lingering feelings and thoughts that this work leaves in the mind and body. The commonality in theme that this bears to the epilogue Shakespeare wrote for The Tempest might not be immediately apparent, but again the language and diction of the poem provide clues as to what Frost was really getting at in this poem. The speaker mentions sleep and dreams or dreaming several times in the poem, both of which are commonly used as euphemisms for death (including by Shakespeare himself, in several famous speeches). Winter, too, is generally symbolic of old age, making the speaker's mention of "winter sleep" doubly evocative of increasing age and the awareness of mortality. The autumn scene of the apple picking itself is also, of course, indicative of change in the seasons; the ripeness of the fruit and their impending usefulness also spells out their demise, and there is a definite sense of melancholy in the poem that seems aware of this fact. The purpose of this poem is similar to that of the epilogue, but has a different perspective; rather than looking ahead at the afterlife for something to count on and live for, "After Apple-picking" is a view from middle age on what matters in the here-and-now, with an awareness of human mortality at the forefront of the message to the reader.