American Literature / Unit 14 AML 1320 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Birches" and "After Apple-Picking"
Captions available
The idea
"Birches", the witness's example of blank verse, imagines a boy swinging birches down and wishes to get away from earth awhile and come back. "After Apple-Picking" leaves a ladder in a tree and slides toward a long sleep.
In practice
A boy swinging; a ladder left standing.
Where people slip
Both poems edge toward death without naming it.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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