Frost: still

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Marius Hancu - 25 Feb 2010 08:08 GMT

Hello:

I wonder about the meaning brought about by "still" here.
Do the first two verses mean:
"My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree [and from then
on/thenceforward/farther] toward heaven?"

Also, what's
"to lift down?"
Seems contradictory to me, but certainly it's well established.
What does OED say about it?

---
After Apple-Picking

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven
still,

...

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch, Cherish in hand, lift
down, and not let fall.

Robert Frost, p. 68
http://www.internal.org/Robert_Frost/After_Apple-Picking
---
--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu

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Jared - 25 Feb 2010 08:39 GMT

> Hello:
>
> I wonder about the meaning brought about by "still" here.
> Do the first two verses mean:
> "My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree [and from then
> on/thenceforward/farther] toward heaven?"

I think it means "my ladder's still sticking through a tree toward
heaven". I have the sense that "still" indicates a certain amount of
time has passed; the ladder was left behind.

> Also, what's
> "to lift down?"
> Seems contradictory to me, but certainly it's well established.
> What does OED say about it?

Perhaps "lift down" can be contrasted with "pull down". To "lift down"
would be to lift slightly and then lower something.

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Marius Hancu - 25 Feb 2010 08:45 GMT

> > I wonder about the meaning brought about by "still" here.
> > Do the first two verses mean:
> > "My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree [and from then
> > on/thenceforward/farther] toward heaven?"

OK, you take the temporal reading of "still." Plausible.

> I think it means "my ladder's still sticking through a tree toward
> heaven". I have the sense that "still" indicates a certain amount of
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Perhaps "lift down" can be contrasted with "pull down". To "lift down"
> would be to lift slightly and then lower something.

Thanks.
Marius Hancu

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 25 Feb 2010 11:33 GMT

>> Hello:
>>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>Perhaps "lift down" can be contrasted with "pull down". To "lift down"
>would be to lift slightly and then lower something.

Yes. I would also interpret "lift down" to mean "support the weight of
while lowering".

Signature

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Jerry Friedman - 25 Feb 2010 15:40 GMT

> > Hello:
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> heaven". I have the sense that "still" indicates a certain amount of
> time has passed; the ladder was left behind.

...

Specifically, he's finished the apple-picking, so it wouldn't be
surprising if he'd moved the ladder, but it's still in the tree.

--
Jerry Friedman

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Marius Hancu - 25 Feb 2010 08:43 GMT

> Robert Frost, p.68
> http://www.internal.org/Robert_Frost/After_Apple-Picking

In the same poem:
---
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
---
Is the "drinking trough" a known, consecrated object?:-)

And, BTW, how beautiful the zero article is here:
"Essence of winter sleep is on the night."

Marius Hancu

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Cheryl - 25 Feb 2010 11:48 GMT

>> Robert Frost, p.68
>> http://www.internal.org/Robert_Frost/After_Apple-Picking
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> ---
> Is the "drinking trough" a known, consecrated object?:-)

Hardly! It's a long low container that animals drink out of. Perhaps the
implication is one of experiencing beauty or strangeness in (or through)
boring ordinary objects?

> And, BTW, how beautiful the zero article is here:
> "Essence of winter sleep is on the night."
>
> Marius Hancu

Signature

Cheryl

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Peter Duncanson (BrE) - 25 Feb 2010 12:21 GMT

>>> Robert Frost, p.68
>>> http://www.internal.org/Robert_Frost/After_Apple-Picking
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
>Hardly! It's a long low container that animals drink out of.

The "pane of glass" is a sheet of ice that has formed on the surface of
the water. He has held it up and looked through it. Things looked
strange when seen through it because of irregularities in it.

Repeating your quote with one extra line:

Essence of winter sleep is on the night
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.

"It" in the last line is the "pane of glass", the sheet of ice.

Signature

Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

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Marius Hancu - 25 Feb 2010 16:01 GMT

On Feb 25, 7:21 am, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)" <m...@peterduncanson.net>
wrote:

> >>> Robert Frost, p.68
> >>>http://www.internal.org/Robert_Frost/After_Apple-Picking
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> "It" in the last line is the "pane of glass", the sheet of ice.

Very interesting.

Thank you all.
Marius Hancu

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

Frost: still