Who Is The Old Apple Tree In Purdy's Detail

As the narrator progresses through motherhood Boland symbolizes the end of the mother’s journey with winter which is associated with cold, harsh, barren, and grey conditions. The metonymy of wrapping a complex thought, such as the conclusion of motherhood, with the word, winter, is made more powerful. Ultimately, Bolands use of winter and its imagery allows the reader to understand the pain and desperation of a mother letting her child lose into the world. The idea of the inevitability of the cycle of life is further pushed by the core motif of the pomegranate. In the myth of Demeter and Persephone the pomegranate exemplifies temptation, procreation, and “evil.” Boland takes advantage of the connotation of the pomegranate established by the myth through the juxtaposition of the pomegranate with modern day representations of adulthood such as, “her teen magazines, her can of coke, and her plate of uncut fruit. The pomegranate.” This quotation demonstrates Boland’s intention to illustrate the child's desire to grow despite what the mother may feel. This is further supported by the line, “ a child can be hungary. I could warn her. There is still a chance.” The quotation supports the idea that I child will “hunger” to become an adult regardless of the implications. Which leads the mother to come to terms with her daughter beginning the journey into, ultimately,

The diction in the excerpt is an essential component to the dramatization of the plot’s central incident. Jewett uses rich language to intensify the simple nature of the main character Sylvia’s journey up a “great pine-tree.” For example, in describing the tree, the narrator uses personification as he mentions the “huge tree asleep yet in the paling moonlight.” The use of personification harkens back to those universal moments in childhood in which everything alive had human feelings, and creates an emotional attachment between the reader and the tree. Jewett also uses other figurative language, like similes, to relate the grandeur of the tree to the audience. She writes, “It [the tree] was like a great main-mast to the voyaging earth…” In comparing the tree to the great mast of a ship, the author invokes feelings of awe at its size.

Trees are important not only physically but also spiritually and for many this fact is lost. Physically trees provide humans with beauty and a healthy ecosystem. Spiritually trees provide humans a connection to nature. Their importance has been lost in our modern times as humans further separate themselves from nature. While forgotten by many, their actions still resonate. The two modern poems “The Tree Agreement” by Elise Paschen and “Living Tree” by Robert Morgan trumpet the value trees hold in comparable ways. In the poem “The Tree Agreement” the speaker argues for the benefits of the Siberian Elm against a disagreeing neighbor. By structuring the poem in this manner, the poet highlights how people are blind to the services trees provide while simultaneously highlighting said services. The tree is portrayed almost as a friend or ally to the speaker. The speaker describes not only to the significance of the tree to humans like the neighbor and the speaker but also to the other living creatures surrounding them. The poem “Living Tree” focuses on the actions performed by trees in cemeteries. This poem follows a more spiritual route when compared to Paschen’s poem. This poem describes the process those who have been buried go through and the role trees play in this process. The trees in this poem are portrayed as lightning rods for the chemicals and spirits of the dead. This relationship is portrayed positively, as the trees are a monument to the passing of life. These poems

One of the most pervasive themes in this passage is that of a spreading decay that is taking over the society. This is first expressed in quite a literal sense, as an actual decay of fruit and produce, which spreads like a virus across the American countryside and farming lands. Due to the economic mismanagement of the farming industry, fruit and other produce are left to rot and decay on the trees because they are not picked by the farmers. The text gives many examples of different fruits being left to decay on the farms. We see, for example, the cherries, that are described at first as “full and sweet”, being left to turn into seeds which “drop and dry with black shreds hanging from them”. The purple prunes, which now “carpet the

Berry’s mention of the farmer and an understanding of his farm is a constant theme in this essay. Agriculture, a distribution of products born from the earth and its entrance into our bodies as nourishment, describes an interdependence. The development of highways, industry, and daily routine of work and obligation, has caused a romanticization of wilderness. High mountain tops and deep forests are sold as “scenic.” Berry reminds the reader that wilderness had once bred communities and civilization, and that by direct use of the land, we are taught to respect and surrender to it. But by invention of skyscrapers, airplanes, we are able to sit higher than these mountain tops and this is his first representation of disconnect from Creation. Mechanical invention leads one to parallel themselves with godliness, magnifying self worth and a sense of significance. What is misunderstood is that through this magnification, because there is no control or limit, we “raise higher the cloud of megadeath.” Our significance is not proved by the weight of our material wealth, rather

Personification also contributes to the relationship by making the tree a lively component of the family instead of a passive object in the back yard. A relationship necessitates at least two parties so it is necessary that the tree be a part of the family. At the end of the poem, “the black walnut tree swings into another year” when the family decides to keep it. This shows that the family respects the tree as its own entity and presence. First, this personifies the tree as free and leisurely because swings are usually for play. It also contextualizes the tree as having a

When the devil shows Tom a tree for a greedy townsperson, he fails to see that he is very much like that tree when he "looked in the direction that the stranger pointed and beheld one of the great trees, fair and flourishing without, but rotten at the core" (130).

Leper, while recounting the events that lead up to Phineas’s fall from the tree, describes the whole ordeal with striking imagery. The reader can clearly visualize exactly what he saw -- how sunbeams graced Gene and Phineas’s dark silhouettes as they stood on the limb, and the black, solid mass that was the tree itself. Enhanced with similes such as “black as death” and “like golden machine-gun fire”, the whole passage really comes to life.

The relationship with man and nature is often influenced by the experiences that one encounters. Douglas Stewart in the snow gum uses descriptively visual techniques in order to portray his experiences, indulging all senses.. The use of imagery to describe the snow gum “ performing its slow miracle” creates a sense of spiritualiy and connection between him and nature that’s present. And in this short pace of time of the “slow miracle”, he is caught up in the experience and awareness of the tree. It is suggested that from his world, he had to slow down to stop and view the natural phenomenon. . The choice of the word “something”, reveals his amazement and questioning. He is suddenly aware of the wonders of nature, not just about the tree surviving in the harsh climate but the shadow and the perfection that exists in nature

The preservation will continue the tree’s growth, just as the family will continue to grow, enduring their hardships. Through these hardships, they must look to the bright side, “the leaves are getting heavier/ every year, and the fruit/ harder to gather away”(13-15). Instead of focusing on the struggle to gather this fruit, they must enjoy and make most of this happiness harvest. “Likely some storm anyway/ will churn down it’s dark boughs”(6-7) also refers to storms families endure and the damage that they can cause, though the speaker believes that their family must endure this storm, being the mortgage, and keep focus on the great familial value the tree has. The speaker comes to a conclusion that despite their hardships, the tree has an unquestionably greater value than that of

Not only does Pollan travel to the places where John Chapman lived back in the 19th century, but also does a great deal of research on the apple in order to have a more educated conclusion on the “environmentalist’s” persona. Pollan discusses that the apple is originally from the mountains of Kazakhstan, made its way to Europe through the silk trade route, and eventually to the United States with the arrival of Columbus and the rest of the Europeans. He also points out that the apples that we eat are strictly from grafted trees, therefore the seeds that Chapman was planting would produce apples so bitter and sour that they would only be edible in the form of hard apple cider. Furthermore, if much of Chapman’s business was focused around the production of trees to make cider then the essence of his story is completely altered. He is no longer a Christian saint who has devoted himself to preserving nature by planting trees; he is, as stated by Michael Pollan, an American Dionysus - Greek god of wine and

It was just a simple narration of individual practice, and as it went on, hour after hour, with voluminous detail, specific and intense here, half disremembered and ambiguous there. Slowly it conveyed to the spectators the belief that it all happened – it was the truth. Falsehoods are not prepared as convoluted and intricate as that tale. Fiction so full of incident, so mixed of purpose and cross-purpose, so permeated with the play of human passion, does not spring offhand from the most marvelous fertile invention. Touching continually points on which there can be controversy, Orchard described undertakings whose purpose until to-day had been unknown, whose motive had lingered as clandestine. And as he continued to recount his story, the half-stifled gathering in the populated courtroom was so silent that his soft speech infiltrated to the farthermost area.

What did that tree, leaning out from the bank, all white and lacy, make you think of? She asked. Well now, I dunno, said Matthew. Why a bride, of course- a bride all in white with a lovely misty veil.” (Montgomery, 65-66) It is identified here how nature pleases Anne’s eye. The way in which she is able to take a tree branch and bring it to life by imagining that is connected with something beautiful like a bride. It doesn’t only suggest her inquisitive imagination, but also her intellect. With using the enjoyments of nature to foster a desire, and with her perceptive vision she is capable of imagining the branch as something else. Through its beauty and emphasis on colour she can make a connection that the tree branch can be compared to a bride. It is crucial how Anne doesn’t take the natural sights of Avonlea for granted, because she values the power of self-expression in nature. Through her imagination with nature she is able to seek comfort. This is seen on her first night in Avonlea, when she’s afraid no one will come for her, so she turns to a tree as her home, where she can sleep. She states, “I had made up my mind that if you didn’t come for me and to-night I’d go down the track to that big wild cherry-tree at the bend, and climb up into it to stay all night.” (Montgomery, 64) This scene represents how Anne is reliant on nature. Instead of being afraid that no one has yet to pick her up she uses nature to occupy her time. She is inspired by nature to

In the poem “After Apple-Picking”, Robert Frost has cleverly disguised many symbols and allusions to enhance the meaning of the poem. One must understand the parallel to understand the central theme of the poem. The apple mentioned in the poem could be connected to the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. It essentially is the beginning of everything earthly and heavenly, therefore repelling death. To understand the complete meaning of Frost’s poem one needs to be aware that for something to be dead, it must have once had life. Life and death are common themes in poetry, but this poem focuses on what is in between, life’s missed experiences and the regret that the speaker is left with.

The wild west wind came down through the fields, rousing the deer from their reverie, and swaying the bee-studded flowers. From its highest bough to the loose sand on its mighty roots, the ancient tree quivered lightly, yet was untroubled by the breeze. Many a storm had passed over the tree, yet no rain had managed to drown those fathomless roots, no hail had managed to bite the iron bark.