Comment 20 of 20, added on February 5th, 2013 at 4:32 PM.
What its really about...
It may seem hard to believe at first, but the song is actually about a girl
becoming pregnant.
In the beginning it describes her doing something childish when her father
gave her a "garden", which is a metaphor for independence.
"She wheeled the dung in the wheelbarrow" this can also be a metaphor as
her carrying her child that has disgraced her. "She hid from anyone
passing" it still is disgracing her...
"She says she thinks she planted one Of all things but weed." Another mean
word for her child, "weed". The baby is growing...
Go back to the "dung in the wheelbarrow" part and at the end it says she
left her "not nice load" therefore she gave her child away.
"And yes, she has long mistrusted That a cider-apple In bearing there today
is hers Or at least may be." --- "Now when she sees in the village How
village things go, Just when it seems to come in right, She says, "I know!"

So, as she sometimes goes to the village she most likely sees her child
growing up from a "weed" or "dung" to a "cider-apple tree". She finally
aknowledges that the child is hers and in the last part of the poem she
"never tells the tale to the same person twice"...it can still be a
disgrace to her.




mbrcanbek from United States

Comment 18 of 20, added on July 1st, 2010 at 10:35 AM.
Missing Word!
Did anyone notice the word "tree" is missing after cider apple... ? In
1964, my high school chorus won a blue ribbon for this lovely poem put to
music. I still enjoy singing it to myself on occasion. It's very lyrical
without the music. Frost must have been smiling when he wrote the words.

Nancy G from United States

Comment 16 of 20, added on March 25th, 2009 at 3:47 PM.

I for one had to sing this with my school treble choir. I am in 9th grade
and i know exactly what this song is about. It is about gossip and how she
continuously spreads it!!!!!!!!! Awesomeness but...yeah thats it. that is
the meaning of the poem.

Brittany from United States

Comment 14 of 20, added on April 11th, 2006 at 8:16 PM.

the poem tells of a girl's experience and what she learns from it.

The father doesn't tell her to plow it he says, there's not enough land to
plow, but just enough for her to get stronger and become independent. At
first she's eager, doesn't mind having to work it by hand, but then she's
always leaving it in the middle, and goin of to do something more fun.

but, she doesn't stick with one thing, its all over the place 'She says she
thinks she planted one
Of all things but weed.' she plants practically everything except weeds,
even a fruit tree.

Her crop was a miscellany
When all was said and done,
A little bit of everything,
A great deal of none.

she's got a bunch of plants, but no actual 'fruit'

then, from what i see, 'oh, never by way of advice' is sarcastic, she
enjoys telling the story, because she has learned from it, to stick with
something and do one thing well, rather than do it haphazardly

although she 'messed up', she still learns, the lesson still continues,
which would be the apple tree

Serena from United States

Comment 12 of 20, added on March 29th, 2006 at 9:26 PM.

This is a poem with much insight about a father's understanding of a
child's need for idependence. he found a suitable place for her garden -
not samll, not big. Hoping it will strenghen her for her future.

This poem of a young girl who wanted independence, and once she got it, She
had to do several things on her own, some nice, some not so, but the
important thing is that she got much experiance both good and bad. However
some experiances that we get during of young life will be there for us much
later - the cider apple tree.

Now she is older, but she sees the going ons around, and remembers the time
when she wantedn her own independence.

Chandani

Chandani from Sri Lanka