The speaker is someone looking back on a childhood experience. Although they are nameless and genderless in the poem, the speaker is widely believed to be the poet drawing from his own lived experience. However, the lack of specificity means it can be applied to a range of people who grew up in this type of rural, countryside environment. The traditional element of the speaker’s day out harvesting suggests they grew up in this world and annually look forward to the week in which they can go out and gather as much as they can. Their need to hoard the harvested berries shows a frugality and resourcefulness; however, the lack of forward thinking illustrates their impetuousness and youth.