How do you understand the poem Green Apples by Dudley Randall?

Answer 1

It basically means that young people aren't mature enough to understand what real love is, emotionally or physically, and that love gets better the older you get.

(Please see the related link for the text of the poem.)

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Trying to understand a poem usually starts with asking questions about it...

First, why is it called Green Apples?

The poem is comparing a young woman to a fruit that isn't ripe yet... that still needs to grow.

So, in what ways does the author think that the woman needs to grow?

in the first stanza, he says the woman is fresh, but not mellow, so he thinks that young women have to mellow out a little.

in the second stanza, he says that it is hard to talk to young women because they talk about themselves and talk too much... so he thinks that women should learn to enjoy silences and when they do talk, to focus on the object of their love more.

in the third stanza, he says that young women are overeager and almost violent during lovemaking, and are selfish, only thinking about their own pleasure. ... so he thinks that they need to learn to be less selfish, more practiced and competent at pleasing their partner.

What is the author trying to say?

so, from all of that, we know that the author thinks that young women need to grow up and become more mature and focus on their significant others more. We also see in the last stanza that he doesn't only think this about young women... because he mentions that they deserve young men... who also do all of those young and immature things. :)