“An Apple Gathering” Summary

“An Apple Gathering” Themes

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  Sexism and Double Standards

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• 

  The Pain of Heartbreak and Betrayal

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “An Apple Gathering”

• Lines 1-4

  I plucked pink blossoms from mine apple-tree
  And wore them all that evening in my hair:
  Then in due season when I went to see
  I found no apples there.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  With dangling basket all along the grass
  As I had come I went the self-same track:
  My neighbours mocked me while they saw me pass
  So empty-handed back.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  Lilian and Lilias smiled in trudging by,
  Their heaped-up basket teased me like a jeer;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  Sweet-voiced they sang beneath the sunset sky,
  Their mother's home was near.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Plump Gertrude passed me with her basket full,
  A stronger hand than hers helped it along;
  A voice talked with her through the shadows cool
  More sweet to me than song.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  Ah Willie, Willie, was my love less worth
  Than apples with their green leaves piled above?
  I counted rosiest apples on the earth
  Of far less worth than love.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  So once it was with me you stooped to talk
  Laughing and listening in this very lane;
  To think that by this way we used to walk
  We shall not walk again!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  I let my neighbours pass me, ones and twos
  And groups; the latest said the night grew chill,
  And hastened: but I loitered; while the dews
  Fell fast I loitered still.

  

  

  

  

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“An Apple Gathering” Symbols

• 

  Apples, Blossoms, and the Harvest

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“An Apple Gathering” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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“An Apple Gathering” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Mine
• In due season
• The self-same track
• Jeer
• Stooped
• Hastened
• Loitered

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “An Apple Gathering”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“An Apple Gathering” Speaker

“An Apple Gathering” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “An Apple Gathering”

More “An Apple Gathering” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Rossetti's life and work at the British Library's website.

  • Rossetti and Gender — Read an article exploring Rossetti's reflections on being a woman (and writing as a woman) in the Victorian era.

  • More of Rossetti's Poetry — Visit the Poetry Foundation to find more poems by Rossetti.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Christina Rossetti

  • A Birthday

  • At Home

  • Babylon the Great

  • Cousin Kate

  • Echo

  • From the Antique

  • Good Friday

  • In an Artist's Studio

  • In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857 (Indian Mutiny)

  • Maude Clare

  • No, Thank You, John

  • Piteous my rhyme is

  • Remember

  • Shut Out

  • Sister Maude

  • Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde

  • Some ladies dress in muslin full and white

  • Song (When I am dead, my dearest)

  • Twice

  • Up-Hill

  • Winter: My Secret