After Apple PickingPutting aside all sexual connotations, "After Apple Picking" is about a dying man who is reflecting on his life's accomplishments and contemplating the opportunities he has let pass. As our narrator drifts off into his final sleep, he is tired of having been given so many options, but he still knows that his mind will have time to think and wonder if he should repent. At the beginning of the poem, he is standing on his long ladder pointing to the sky and looking down at the apples he had not picked. But he shows no sign of remorse, as he admits that he's "done with the apple picking now." Although he seems quite confident in this statement, the reader questions his sincerity as he looks at the barrel he hasn't filled. For this is his last waking hour and questions are sure to come as “the essence of winter sleep is in the night.” Our narrator goes on to talk about his strange vision of the "hoary grass" through a small sheet of ice. As he looks through this piece of "glass", it begins to melt, thus symbolizing how his view of the world is coming to an end. Although he is completely aware of his demise, he is comforted by knowing "what form [his] dreams were about to take. With a somewhat optimistic outlook, he is confident in the positive nature of his thoughts in the afterlife. He assumes that his "dreams ” will be his many accomplishments; a “stem” to “blossom” overview of his life's works. The narrator also imagines that his dreams will show him how sturdy he was, swaying little, when the tree branches bent in the wind. He will see himself strong under the heat of a barrage of incoming apples. After admitting that he has picked too many apples, he seems ready to look at the "highlights" in his dream as he thinks about how successful in his "apple picking", he begins to wondering about the fruitful opportunities he has let slip through his hands and fall to the ground.