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I'm rather unsure on the total meaning of this piece. I think it could have a tone of regret, as indicated with the line "I should have lopped the dead limbs early". The diction of "should" suggests that the speaker was indecisive and chose the wrong decision and now regrets it. Denial is also indicated by the lines: "I was too enchanted/ by pear saplings, flowers and the pasture,/ too callow to believe that death's inevitable". This suggests that the speaker knew death was going to come around but they repressed this by forcing themselves to focus on distractions. This also supports the regret theory, as "too" seems to have a negative connotation, as does "callow". "Smoke" is repeated a lot, perhaps as a metaphor for blindness. The smoke obscured the speaker's judgement, thus resulting in death. I think the main literary devices to focus on would be imagery, diction and syntax, and repetition.
After reading Amy’s post I found myself seeing a lot of similarities between our annotations. I noticed a lot of the things she pointed out, and also she showed me many things I missed. The tone of this poem is regretful. The speaker says, “I should have lopped the dead limbs early and watched each branch with a goshawk’s eye”. This quote has a lot of negative imagery associated with the diction. I also feel that at the beginning the speaker was in a little state of denial and blamed his mistakes other people. The speaker says, “I will remember of the Red Delicious I brought down, ashamed that I could not convince its limbs to render fruit”. The speaker seems to be saying something along the lines of he tried to tell the trees to grow fruit, but they wouldn’t listen. The speaker shows a very child-like tone when he talks about being enchanted. It shows that he was too naïve to control his emotions in the sight of the, “pear saplings, flowers and the pasture”. I noticed that there was a repetition of smoke and Red Delicious. I think the two phrases repeated so commonly are juxtaposition between the two. Smoke is grey, and associated with death, while Red Delicious is red and beautiful, and associated with life. I also think that the symbolism of smoke had to do with the regret and unhappiness of the speaker. Smoke is associated with death, and all of his hopes and ambitions are dead because he messed up so bad in the winter and didn’t take care of the harvests. The speaker talks about the wood stove a lot and the smoke is associated with burning and flames. The diction is very concrete. It is very associated with nature, and it describes all of the aspects of it richly. I think the main literary devices (like Amy) are diction, imagery, and repetition. -KATIE HARRIS
Well that was depressing. Thanks, author. That really made my day better.
Can't we have a happy poem every once in a while?
This one seemed regretful, with words like "should" and the huge contrast between life and death, the consequences and ultimate end of it all. There was the smoke, the blackness, etc. This is compared to the fruit, the apple, the Red Delicious that was neglected by him, resulting in a bad harvest.
Why an apple I wonder? I feel like there's significance to that...I mean it could have been a peach. Perhaps for the color red to be associated with the cinder at the end? Everything burns.
I see the same central strategies Katie and Amy do.
I agree with Amy that perhaps the tone of the poem i sregretful. To add on to the idea of using the would "smoke," it reminded me of ashes, which relates to death because some people are cremated and what's left is their ashes. The idea of death relates to the other lines of the poem, "I was too enchanted/ by pear saplings, flowers and the pasture,/ too callow to believe that death's inevitable," that suggest a regretful tone. Also, the vivid description of the fruits like "Red Delicious," "pear sapplings," and, "flowers of the pasture," relate to things that are full of life, which juxtoposes with the poem's ideas about death. Basically, I agree with Amy and Katie's ideas about the poem.
Being too distracted by the newer,prettier things in life,like a kid, the speaker says "but I was too enchanted by pear saplings".I agree with Katie that the speaker is child-like when see that the apples he was growing has left nothing good. The juxtaposition of "Two decades of shade and blossoms" indicates that for too long, the speaker has been mesmerized and blinded by frivolity which allows him to be "too callow". This implies that the speaker is aware of the state of his apples and that "death's inevitable for anything unloved, unintended", like a passing red bird in flight, the cinder burns, and passes like "a scarlet harvest headed, by dawn, to embers".Before called "apple boughs", a now "scarlet harvest", seemingly ripe,inevitably descends to the flaming "embers".
For some reason as I was reading this poem, Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit kept sticking out in my mind. The diction used is very depressing and shameful. "Blacken leaves", "dry the bark and heart", "lopped the dead limbs" etc...
The speaker seems regretful about not taking care of her tree and is disappointed that it will not bear any fruit. As the poem's title suggest, they had neglected the tree. The last apple boughs from the tree are currently smoking in the woodstove. This gives the image of watching the tree's potential literally going up in smoke.
This poem is a simple lesson of what happens when something is neglected. It also shows you do not know what you have until it is gone. The speaker's regretful tone and behavior are examples of this.
6 comments:
I'm rather unsure on the total meaning of this piece. I think it could have a tone of regret, as indicated with the line "I should have lopped the dead limbs early". The diction of "should" suggests that the speaker was indecisive and chose the wrong decision and now regrets it. Denial is also indicated by the lines: "I was too enchanted/ by pear saplings, flowers and the pasture,/ too callow to believe that death's inevitable". This suggests that the speaker knew death was going to come around but they repressed this by forcing themselves to focus on distractions. This also supports the regret theory, as "too" seems to have a negative connotation, as does "callow". "Smoke" is repeated a lot, perhaps as a metaphor for blindness. The smoke obscured the speaker's judgement, thus resulting in death. I think the main literary devices to focus on would be imagery, diction and syntax, and repetition.
After reading Amy’s post I found myself seeing a lot of similarities between our annotations. I noticed a lot of the things she pointed out, and also she showed me many things I missed. The tone of this poem is regretful. The speaker says, “I should have lopped the dead limbs early and watched each branch with a goshawk’s eye”. This quote has a lot of negative imagery associated with the diction. I also feel that at the beginning the speaker was in a little state of denial and blamed his mistakes other people. The speaker says, “I will remember of the Red Delicious I brought down, ashamed that I could not convince its limbs to render fruit”. The speaker seems to be saying something along the lines of he tried to tell the trees to grow fruit, but they wouldn’t listen. The speaker shows a very child-like tone when he talks about being enchanted. It shows that he was too naïve to control his emotions in the sight of the, “pear saplings, flowers and the pasture”. I noticed that there was a repetition of smoke and Red Delicious. I think the two phrases repeated so commonly are juxtaposition between the two. Smoke is grey, and associated with death, while Red Delicious is red and beautiful, and associated with life. I also think that the symbolism of smoke had to do with the regret and unhappiness of the speaker. Smoke is associated with death, and all of his hopes and ambitions are dead because he messed up so bad in the winter and didn’t take care of the harvests. The speaker talks about the wood stove a lot and the smoke is associated with burning and flames. The diction is very concrete. It is very associated with nature, and it describes all of the aspects of it richly. I think the main literary devices (like Amy) are diction, imagery, and repetition.
-KATIE HARRIS
Well that was depressing. Thanks, author. That really made my day better.
Can't we have a happy poem every once in a while?
This one seemed regretful, with words like "should" and the huge contrast between life and death, the consequences and ultimate end of it all. There was the smoke, the blackness, etc. This is compared to the fruit, the apple, the Red Delicious that was neglected by him, resulting in a bad harvest.
Why an apple I wonder? I feel like there's significance to that...I mean it could have been a peach. Perhaps for the color red to be associated with the cinder at the end? Everything burns.
I see the same central strategies Katie and Amy do.
I agree with Amy that perhaps the tone of the poem i sregretful. To add on to the idea of using the would "smoke," it reminded me of ashes, which relates to death because some people are cremated and what's left is their ashes. The idea of death relates to the other lines of the poem, "I was too enchanted/ by pear saplings, flowers and the pasture,/ too callow to believe that death's inevitable," that suggest a regretful tone. Also, the vivid description of the fruits like "Red Delicious," "pear sapplings," and, "flowers of the pasture," relate to things that are full of life, which juxtoposes with the poem's ideas about death. Basically, I agree with Amy and Katie's ideas about the poem.
Being too distracted by the newer,prettier things in life,like a kid, the speaker says "but I was too enchanted by pear saplings".I agree with Katie that the speaker is child-like when see that the apples he was growing has left nothing good. The juxtaposition of "Two decades of shade and blossoms" indicates that for too long, the speaker has been mesmerized and blinded by frivolity which allows him to be "too callow". This implies that the speaker is aware of the state of his apples and that "death's inevitable for anything unloved, unintended", like a passing red bird in flight, the cinder burns, and passes like "a scarlet harvest headed, by dawn, to embers".Before called "apple boughs", a now "scarlet harvest", seemingly ripe,inevitably descends to the flaming "embers".
For some reason as I was reading this poem, Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit kept sticking out in my mind. The diction used is very depressing and shameful. "Blacken leaves", "dry the bark and heart", "lopped the dead limbs" etc...
The speaker seems regretful about not taking care of her tree and is disappointed that it will not bear any fruit. As the poem's title suggest, they had neglected the tree. The last apple boughs from the tree are currently smoking in the woodstove. This gives the image of watching the tree's potential literally going up in smoke.
This poem is a simple lesson of what happens when something is neglected. It also shows you do not know what you have until it is gone. The speaker's regretful tone and behavior are examples of this.
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