The Cow in Apple-time
The Cow in Apple-time - meaning Summary
Temptation at Apple-time
Frost depicts a single cow abandoning fences and pasture to gorge on windfallen apples. Drawn by the scent and taste of cider-softened fruit, she ignores human boundaries and common sense, roaming from tree to tree. The poem treats this impulse as both comic and tragic: the cow’s indulgence yields immediate pleasure but also bodily decline, its udder shriveling and milk drying. Frost uses a simple pastoral scene to show how irresistible temptation can override reason and lead to unintended consequences, suggesting a tension between natural desire and practical needs.
Read Complete AnalysesSomething inspires the only cow of late To make no more of a wall than an open gate, And think no more of wall-builders than fools. Her face is flecked with pomace and she drools A cider syrup. Having tasted fruit, She scorns a pasture withering to the root. She runs from tree to tree where lie and sweeten. The windfalls spiked with stubble and worm-eaten. She leaves them bitten when she has to fly. She bellows on a knoll against the sky. Her udder shrivels and the milk goes dry.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.