An Apple Gathering
After plucking apple blossoms to wear in their hair, the speaker returns at harvest time to find no apples and faces neighbors' mockery while others carry full baskets. Addressing Willie, the speaker values love above apples, recalls their walks together, and laments that they will not walk together again. As the neighbors hurry away, the speaker lingers in the falling dew.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Love Poetry · 297 words
First lines
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.
With dangling basket all along the grass / As I had come I went the selfsame track: / My neighbors mocked me while they saw me pass / So empty-handed back.
Lilian and Lilias smiled in trudging by, / Their heaped-up basket teased me like a jeer; / Sweet-voiced they sang beneath the sunset sky, / Their mother's home was near.
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.
What this Textopian page supports
An Apple Gathering is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Love Poetry
- Length: 297 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for An Apple Gathering by Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Seven rhymed quatrains convey the speaker's hurt through an empty basket, remembered companionship, and lingering in the dew.
- Narrative Poetry — The verses follow blossom picking, a fruitless harvest visit, encounters with neighbors, and the speaker's delayed departure.
- Love Poetry — The speaker addresses Willie, asks whether their love was worth less than apples, and mourns the end of their walks together.
Tags
apple harvest · lost love · mockery · loneliness · remembered companionship