Apples Growing

Description

Written by American poet William McKendree Carleton, Apples Growing is a bucolic poem that, like so many other poems by the same author, describes the idyllic rural landscape and the events of life in the countryside.

The poem depicts a woman who is sitting under an apple tree and is watching the landscape and her husband working while her child is playing next to her. As her eyes watch the idyllic surroundings, her mind wanders back in time and she remembers the place where she agreed “to be his”. She also remembers the difficult times they needed to endure since then, but then she cheers up, enjoying being a woman and a mother at the same time.

The poem was first published in 1873, just one year after Carleton published his Over the Hill to the Poor House, the poem that brought him nationwide recognition. Apples Growing was included into the volume entitled Farm Ballads, the first volume of the Farm Series and the fifth collection in the line of over 25 volumes published by Carleton during his lifetime.

After his rise to prominence, he continued writing poetry and he became so renowned and so appreciated by critics and the general public alike that in 1919, 7 years after the poet’s death, a law was passed in Michigan(Carleton’s home state) that made it a duty of literature teachers to introduce their pupils to at least one of the author’s poems. Furthermore, October 21 was proclaimed Will Carleton Day in the state. He also worked as a journalist, a newspaper editor and a lecturer. In his capacity as a lecturer, he travelled widely across the US and Canada, reading his poems and giving speeches about various topics, compelling audiences not only with his extraordinary poems, but also with his talent as a wonderful public speaker.
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