Category: Birches

Robert Frost is one of the most well known American poets. Frost’s writing shaped the way many people view and write poetry today. His descriptive works are taught in schools throughout the country. The complexity of his poems leaves plenty of room for analysis and discussion. Though one can find many themes in his works a major one that sticks out is mans isolation. Alienation is common in todays’s world and mankind tends to block out the rest of the society avoiding contact with one another. Frost uses nature to discuss man’s desire to isolate themselves instead of having meaningful contact with other humans. We especially see the desire for loneliness in “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” when a man is caught avoiding his humanly responsibilities, or in “Mending Wall” where a man blocks out his neighbors. In “Birches” the narrator wishes for his youth when it was just him and nature, and “Road Not Taken” a man has to decide to take the common path or take the lonely path.

Mankind is a species meant to survive together. In “Stopping By Woods” a man desires isolation. We know this man is in a hurry because he says “But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep” yet he still sits there staring into the raw untouched landscape. Frost gives his horse humanlike characteristics to show how drawn to nature and isolation this man is. Most would think an animal would be the one yearning to be out there alone, separated from the business of the human world. In this case the horse is the one urging the human to return to mankind. For a moment he completely blocked out the world to which he belonged.

Similarly, in “Mending Wall” a neighbor stresses the importance of having a wall between the two properties. The neighbor speaking doesn’t understand the point of separating trees, for why would his trees go eat the fruit of another tree? This is an example of how many blocks out the rest of society for themselves. Frost incorporates many more lines where isolation is mentioned. The lines. “The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, but at spring mending time we find them there” is symbolic of the gap between the neighbors and stresses the separation of the two. Isolation usually goes unnoticed, but there is a clear separation between man. The speaker doesn’t understand the neighbors desire to be alone. He asks, “what was I walling in or walling out?” In the words of Arthur Schopenhauer, “A man can be himself so long as he is alone. If he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.” Maybe the neighbor seeks freedom and this drives him toward isolation. Whatever the neighbors reasoning is Frost does an exceptional job of showing his rejection of his fellow man.

“Birches” touches on the isolation you find in youth. Frost sets the mood of lonliness by talking about the coldness that winter brought. The narrator shows how he misses the loneliness that comes with being young when he says “I should prefer to have some boy bend them. As he went out and in to fetch the cows— Some boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself, Summer or winter, and could play alone.” When you’re young you find amusement out of whatever is around. You don’t need the company of other humans to find enjoyment in life. Frost writes this in a way that makes the reader think the narrator is tired of his life with mankind and misses the isolation that his youth brought. Frost really shows the narrator’s views on todays society later in the poem when he says “I’d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over.” This combined with the yearning for his isolated youth shows a man’s desire to be cut off from the rest of the world.

Just like in “Birches” Frost shows mans choice to separate from the rest of the world in “A Road Not Taken.” Man is faced with a decision when “two roads diverge in a yellow wood.” One path is obviously not been used in a while and the other shows signs of wear. The roads can be symbolic to society. In this case a man has to decide between a society that is busy with the travels of mankind, or a society isolated from the rest of man. In the last line Frost says, “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” The traveler, obviously wants to be alienated from mankind and his choice to do so has given him a happier life.

The Works of Robert Frost are full of man’s search for solitude and isolation. “Stopping By Woods”, “Mending Wall”, “Birches”, and “Road Not Taken” are just a few samples of Frost showing the separation people search for rather than surrounding themselves with fellow man. Frost does a great job at using the loneliness of untouched nature to show the true nature of man, which is blocked off from the rest of the world in total isolation.

Birches by Robert Frost is a poem which talks about how one must escape from reality for some time, only to return to it later. In the poem, the author discusses the topic of birch trees and how they bend after an ice storm. In his imagination, the birches are being bent by a boy who has been “swinging” them. The author prefers his imagination over the truth. The poem tries to tell the reader about balancing truth and imagination. Sometimes a person needs to escape from the harsh reality of the world, and they can only do that through their thoughts, but eventually, the person must face the truth. The poem also compares earth and heaven, and how a person can escape the difficulties of life on earth by dying and going to heaven, but if they want to fully live and enjoy their lives, they must remain on earth. The poem is very thought provoking, and encourages the reader to think about their views on life and death, and reality and imagination, which are intriguing topics. The poem uses a lot of figurative language, which makes it more understandable and relatable to the reader.

The poem Birches uses figurative language such as metaphors, imagery, and personification to help the reader understand the point the author is trying to make. In the poem, the author states that he would “like to go by climbing a birch tree, toward heaven”. Climbing the birch tree is a metaphor for striving towards imagination and life away from earth, just like in reality, when one climbs a tree they get further away from earth. Imagery is used when the author states, “soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells, shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust.” The use of imagery helps the reader to visualize how the ice falls from the birches, and how heavy it must be to cause an “avalanche”. This helps the reader understand how after the storm, the birch trees bend because of the weight of all the ice. This can also be a metaphor for the troubles of the world weighing down on a person’s imagination and freedom. The poem uses personification when it refers to truth, for example the author states, “when Truth broke in, with all her matter-of-fact”. The truth is compared to a person who abruptly ends the careless thoughts of a person’s imagination. The poem uses figurative language to effectively communicate the theme, and to make the poem more relatable to the reader.

The poem Birches expresses philosophical views about life and is effective in capturing the reader’s attention. The poem compares the differences between imagination and truth, and earth and heaven. While sometimes it is better to pick one over the other, a person must have a balance of both to experience a happy life. One can escape earth and reality and strive towards death and heaven, but to be happy they must also remain on earth and live their lives. At the same time, one’s imagination provides a great escape from the difficulties and troubles of the world. The poem uses figurative language to describe these ideas in an interesting way. It uses birch trees, and the climbing or “swinging” of them to symbolize the path between earth and heaven, truth and imagination. Birches by Robert Frost is a thought provoking poem that is easy to read because of the use of literary devices.

In this write-up, we are attempting to discuss the central idea of Birches, a poem written by Robert Frost. The poem is reminiscent of the poems of The Romantics. Nostalgic, dreamy, escapist- it has all the qualities of any other romantic poems. The poem opens by giving the possible explanations of the bending of the birch trees. Then the poet goes on to explain the beauty of the crystallised snows and ice-capped trees. The poet imagines a boy bending the branches while returning after herding his cows. The poet again mentions another boy bending the branches of trees in his father’s orchard. And this reminds the poet of his similar childhood experiences. He expresses his desire to go away from this world of responsibilities and return to his childhood once again so that he could start his life afresh from the beginning. He wants the fates to grant him a half wish as he doesn’t want to go away permanently from this world but to come back again because, after some considerations, he reconciles to the idea that earth is the best place for love.

The theme or the central idea of birches is the interrelationship between reality & imagination. The poet knows very well that the bending of birches can only be brought about by an ice storm. Yet, he prefers to think that it is done by some energetic prankster. The poem illustrates the poet’s ability to take what seems to be mundane activities of life & turn it into something that holds a deeper meaning. The poem revolves around a boy living in the countryside “whose only play was what he found himself,” in this case, riding birch branches. On a more deeper & figurative level, we also find the theme of life & death underlying in the poem. The poet writes a lot of meditations on life & death bringing forth some elements of spirituality. Moreover, Birches is a poem about Truth.

Truth is at times cold & uninviting. A pinch of fantasy makes the truth appealing & wondrous. Here we find the tendency of human escapism. Truth is personified as she breaks in “with all her matter of fact” when the narrator was enjoying the idea that some frolicking boy had caused the damage. The narrator cannot avoid returning to the “truth” & responsibilities of the ground. He wishes for a temporary escape either as an imaginative writer or a climber of birches. He is ready to face reality after his brief suspension of it. “Birches” captures the nostalgic memory of a countryside boy and fuses it into worldly wisdom of the grown up man he has become. Swinging in the birch trees is like swinging between the opposites: there are many contrasts inside the poem – earth & heaven, control & abandon, reality & imagination, escape & responsibility. Like all poems of Robert Frost it begins in wisdom and ends in delight. Hope you liked reading the central idea of Birches.

Birches” is a memorable poem that is rich and interesting enough to repay more than one reading. Robert Frost provides vivid images of birches in order to oppose life’s harsh realities with the human actions of the imagination. I recommend this poem to anyone interested in reading and studying poetry that meets many requirements for excellence. However, it can not be understood from a quick once-over in a classroom. Its meaning can only be revealed by reading it over and over in a quiet setting. “Birches” has a profound theme and its sounds, rhythm, form, tone, and figures of speech emphasize this meaning. Theme “Birches” provides an interesting aspect of imagination to oppose reality. Initially, reality is pictured as birches bending and cracking from the load of ice after a freezing rain. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed So low for long, they never right themselves: Reality has its ups and downs. This passage suggests that people never fully recover from being dragged down by life even if they don’t seem broken.

Imagination is portrayed as “a swinger of birches.” The portrayal of the boy refines this image: One by one he subdued his father’s trees By riding them down over and over again. The boy seems to take in lessons about life from these encounters with the trees on his father’s land: He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon. This boy lives away from town and must play by himself. He has learned his father’s lessons. Imagination is the gift for escaping reality that each one of us possesses. We do not have to depend on anyone to take a mental vacation. Mastering your art of imagination will increase your ability to handle the bad things life dishes out. That’s why the narrator advocates using imagination. On Earth we can become weary from life’s everyday occurrences–that “pathless wood.” However, Earth’s the place for love–not hate, weariness, or any negative feelings. Therefore, use imagination to come back to reality relaxed. At the end, the narrator imagines climbing the birch tree “Toward heaven”–to the top and swinging a branch down to the ground. Suddenly he sounds relaxed and carefree. Isn’t this better than the villain “Truth”? It sounds like imagination works.

Sound Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. This passage begins the visual journey through the woods. In this journey, Frost wants the reader to see the birches as they really are and as they seem in a series of pleasant images. Part of the realism comes from the sound of passages like this one: They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalaching on the snow crust– Frost’s alliteration–here the repetition of /z/ and /s/ and /k/ sounds–lets us hear as well as see the birch trees after a freezing rain and the morning after as the melting begins. The /k/ sound in “crack” and “crazes” mimics the sound of the ice in the breeze “shattering” and crashing “on the snow crust.” It also imitates the crunch of snow under the weight of boots. The /s/ and /z/ sounds suggest the rising breeze–his use of /s/ sounds increases as it rises. These sounds also suggest the scratch and swish of birch branches scraped on the crust.

Perhaps they also imitate the swish of layers of warm garments rubbing together as you walk. These sounds contribute to the tone, or attitude, concerning “Truth,” or reality. The upheaval caused by the breeze and the sun’s warmth portray a shattered, uncomfortable feeling. Life is full its peaceful ups; however, it also consists of shattering downs. CONSIDERATIONS OF CRAFT Rhythm and Form “Birches” consists mainly of blank verse: unrimed iambic pentameter, as in the lines below. When I see birches bend to left and right. Across the lines of straighter darker trees, However, Frost deviates from this pattern to emphasize certain lines that give clues to the theme. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load. And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed The meaning reflected in the lines scanned above plus the next line: “So low for long, they never right themselves:” add up to dramatize what life’s “downs” will do to a person. Lines 42, 50, and 54 contain the rimes be, me, and tree, which emphasize that the narrator wishes to be in his imagination, that he identifies with the imaginary boy who was “a swinger of birches.

Tone The poem communicates an attitude about imagination and reality. The choice of certain words and certain details makes it clear that the speaker prefers imagination but is aware of reality. Initially, the forest scene describes “crystal shells/ Shattering and avalanching on the snow crust–/ Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away.” The words “shattering and avalanching” give the feeling of calamity and perhaps fear or sorrow. A disturbance in the universe is suggested by the “heaps of broken glass” that make it seem as if “the inner dome of heaven had fallen.” Since Truth is linked to the ice storm, the speaker sees that the reality is that ice storms have bent down the birches. There is a turning point that informs the reader that the villain “Truth” has butted into the poem. The speaker, who was getting whimsical and nostalgic about girls drying their long hair “in the sun,” admits that “Truth broke in/ With all her matter-of-fact about the ice storm.” But now it’s imagination’s turn.

The speaker’s huffiness about truth pushes reality aside for the more refreshing view of imagination. The comforting image of the boy who “one by one . . . subdued his father’s trees” pits art against the destructive chaos of reality. The boy refines his art of imagination by persistence– And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there was To learn . . . . This scene is softer than the scene of the ice storms in lines 5 – 15. But the point of this opposition between imagination and reality, the boy vs. the ice storm, doesn’t come until years later at the end of the poem. The frustration of life sometimes makes it “too much like a pathless wood.” After disclosing that he himself has been “a swinger of birches” the speaker confesses that he yearns to return to those days in his imagination to get away from the frustrations, the shatterings of real life. The last line, “One could do worse than to be a swinger of birches,” sounds relaxed, thoughtful, resolved. After having taken a mental vacation into the forest, the narrator comes back to reality refreshed, ready for love and ready to face reality again. Isn’t this one purpose of all art–paintings, movies, literature, sculpture, music–to refresh us by drawing on our imaginations so that we can use our dreams or our memories to survive day-to-day, matter-of-fact reality? “Birches” is no ode to winter; it is more a tribute to the power of imagination. Frost uses several figures of speech to stress certain points and add freshness to the poem. For instance, Frost gives human qualities to “Truth” in the personification about interrupting. This striking personification alerts the reader that “Truth,” or reality, is a major part of the theme for this poem.

Similes heighten both sides of the contrast between truth/reality and imagination/memory. The nostalgic image of “girls on their hands and knees that throw their hair/ Before them over their heads to dry in the sun” begins with the simile-signal “like.” When describing life “like a pathless wood,” Frost uses imagination to depict reality. So imagination even subdues or overcomes reality. The last line, “One could do worse than to be a swinger of birches,” understates the theme. If imagination can be equated with art, the last line may suggest that one could end up in a worse life pursuit than being an artist, or a poet. Major Assets “Birches” is a memorable poem. It is lengthy and complicated enough to give the reader something to discover every time it is read. In the poem, Frost uses several tools of the poetic craft to depict the theme. “Birches,” written in generally unrimed iambic pentameter, includes rimes and variations in rhythm that stress major points of the theme. “Birches” also contains several figures of speech and vivid language to depict reality and the power of the imagination. A good poem should stir the reader and touch the emotions. This poem advocates using the imagination to deal with life’s downs. In today’s harsh, hectic world, this message definitely hits home.

Major Drawbacks One major drawback of “Birches” is that the reader must be careful not to take the wording literally, at face value. “So was I once myself a swinger of birches” does not necessarily mean that the narrator used to hang off of trees like Snoopy, and the statement “And so I dream of going back to be” does not necessarily mean that the speaker wants to climb a birch tree. The important word is “dream.” It’s our dreams that steel us against the branches of reality that lash across our open eyes. The poem must be reread again and again to see what the narrator is referring to by taking each statement in the context of surrounding lines and the larger context of the whole poem. The narrator has been imaginative, has subdued reality with the power of the dream, and so he wishes to again. Another example lies in the line “One by one he subdued his father’s trees.” We know the ice storms bent the trees, that the boy did not conquer his father’s forest. Instead the reader must reread to find that with imagination the boy is able to subdue life’s downside, perhaps overcoming the setbacks that his father endured and may now afflict the speaker, who dreams of using imagination to overcome difficult times. It is also hard for a firstyear college student to get past the pretty nature poetry. I could picture a winter scene: “As the breeze rises” and the effect of “the sun’s warmth” on the sheaths of ice covering the tree branches. But this is where I ended the scene. I did not picture the shattering of ice “on the snow crust” like “heaps of broken glass to sweep away.” Initially, I did not get the shattered feeling; I felt the scene was peaceful.

I enjoyed reading “Birches,” and I believe my reaction is both personal and aesthetic. This poem was lengthy and complex enough to contain many of the aesthetics of an excellent poem. I will always remember the vivid images provided by Frost’s use of figures of speech and sound. This poem also stirred my feelings. I work in a very highpressure business environment and sometimes I escape by daydreaming. I long for the day when I have my own business. I believe my reaction is not typical of first-year students; most would be “put off” by this poem’s length and complexity. Many, however, would look at this poem as a possible wealth of information or as a manual for defending oneself against the onrush of reality.

The poem opens with the sight of curiously bent birches trees. When the poet sees birches bending to left and right in the backdrop of “straighter and darker ” trees, he likes to believe it is the work of some country boy who must’ve indulged in swinging them. However, he is fully away that it cannot be the case as the birches have been permanently bent. He knows it isn’t the work of a harmless boy. It’s the ice storms. Harsh, cold and ruthless. The boy and the ice storm both are explanations for the truth behind the state of the bent birches. One is the objective, fact based explanation which states that which is. The other is a subjective explanation based on fantasy which creates a possibility of that which can be.

The use of contrast is seen throughout the poem: black/white, ideal/real, heat/cold, old age/adolescence, fact/fiction. The list goes on. In the opening lines of the poem, the poet comes across birches which bend to the left and right are rooted within the backdrop of straighter, darker trees. It is interesting to note that he uses a comparative degree of straighter, darker trees in relation to the birches. This complicates the idea of Truth. How straight is straighter and how dark is darker? Is an absolute sufficient to explain a Truth or can it be explained in more than one way?

The poem now switches to the second person as the speaker address the reader (“you”). While referring to the birches to delve into the human condition, we are told that some circumstances merely swing them and others them down forever.

Sometimes, during the winter of adversity, even a gentle breeze makes their branches click against one another which ‘cracks and creases” their glossy surface (enamel) but soon, the sun’s warmth makes them ‘shed their ‘crystal shells’. A highly sensory language is used to describe a matter-of fact event : the process of the freezing and thawing of ice. Notice the use of a host of literary devices to capture the ‘reality’ of winter. The stanza abounds in alliteration ( cracks and crazed), onomatopoeia ( click, shattering, cracks) and sibilance (Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells). The use of enjambment and present participle captures the unstoppable, momentum of the melting ice:

Thus we see, a poetic language is used to describe a scientific phenomenon. The literal gives way to the figurative. Art makes the reality of the thawing ice more real.

The fallen ‘dome of heaven’ is a reference to the long discarded Ptolemaic pre-Copernican model of universe which held that the planets are enclosed in spheres (domes). The dome of this heaven has indeed fallen. What was held to be real for ages (the ancient theory) is real no more and what isn’t ”real’ but a fiction (description of the melting ice) becomes more ‘real’ than reality itself.

Sometimes, when the poet’s adult life is ravaged by some harsh truths about the real world (the ice-storms), he prefers the truths to be like a birch tree that might be bent by some boy – a boy who was too far from the town to learn baseball and whose only play was what he found. This was how the poet persona supposedly spent his childhood – subduing his father’s trees, climbing them and swinging from them to reach the ground.

The opposition of fact vs fantasy resurfaces in these lines. When Truth breaks in a matter-of fact manner , he’ prefers‘ it to be the workings of a boy instead of the ice storm. The Truth of the boy swinging the birches serves as an antidote to the matter-of fact Truth of the ice storms because the truth of the former leaves scope for dealing with reality through imagination whereas the latter demands the acceptance of an opaque fact : there’s no more to it than what is.

Gradually, the speaker conquered all of his fathers trees as a boy, which being young and tender couldn’t help but yield to the boy’s will. The language employed while describing the scene is fraught with violence. Considering the fact that this poem was published during World War I, one might be tempted to draw a link between the text and the event. However, making such speculation isn’t feasible as it doesn’t complement the thematic concerns of the poem.

The nostalgia of childhood provides a brief escape to the speaker from the rigors of the adult life. The manner in which he used to climb the tree is vividly captured in these lines. After learning to climb carefully with the same pains as one uses “to fill the cup up to the brim, and even above the brim”, he’d fling himself “kicking his way down through the air to the ground” – a lot like building one’s life carefully around a certain truth only to fling oneself clear off it. There’s a limit to what a cup can hold and there’s a limit to which the boy can climb the tree. He must come down someday.

The boy’s act of climbing the birches creates a slight tension. There’s both leisure and danger involved in it and above all there’s uncertainty – quite like life. Climbing the right height is crucial for the act. Too little height won’t help him launch and too great a height will jeopardize the boy’s safety. He needs to learn how to climb and also how not to launch too soon. In short, he has to learn when to hold on and when to let go. Maintaining this balance is of great importance in life.

Sometimes the speaker can’t help but yearn to escape from the adult life. He wishes to be the boy again who used to spend his leisure time with the birches.

The imagery of the ‘pathless wood ‘ is used to describe life’s complexity and the difficulty in getting around it. One is made to find one’s own way in the pathless wood and in doing so, becomes covered with cobwebs and twigs and one’s eyes weep “from a twig’s having lashed across it open”. This is the Truth: complex, discomforting, real, raw and painful. And it is only natural that he’d like to get away from the ground and being again. Many a trees make pathless woods but climbing the very trees may help one see the path. It is the same trees that may help one to find one’s way. A moment’s pause may help one to carry on and a moment’s respite gained by swinging on the birches may rejuvenate a tired soul. Many a times, that which limits us may be the very thing that sets us free.

The poet makes it clear that neither is he an escapist nor is he espousing escapism to get away from the rigors of life which demands duty, entrusts responsibility and exploits vulnerability. Rather, what he thirsts for is a brief respite from the harsh realities of existence. As he explicitly states :

The poet wants to briefly escape the harsh realities of life by climbing a birch tree and momentarily transcending the monotony of life. The moment the speaker launches from the birches is when he can shed the cobwebs of everyday existence : one’s troubles, worries and responsibilities, quite like the trees which shed crystal shells when the sun is up.

This moment of ecstasy while launching isn’t just a physical thrill. It is also the act of aiming at something beyond oneself and momentarily transcending the Self. It is an imaginative act. It is a creative act. But this moment is a fleeting one as life’s responsibilities cannot be avoided altogether. Their is a limit to this act. The birches swing oneself up – momentarily – and the ground pulls one down. The leap of imagination must also yield to the conditions of reality.

Symbolically, any creative act, despite helping one transcend beyond oneself is limited by the conditions of reality whether it be swinging from a birch tree, making one’s Art or composing a poem. Viewed from this angle, the poem then also becomes an commentary on the relationship between truth, life and art. Imagination cannot exist outside the real world. The boy must land on the ground. The swishing in the air must happen with the aid of the birch tree. And the birch must always be rooted to the ground for him to make that launch. Always. Naturally, the speaker can’t help but wish wish to return to earth.

Perhaps, he desires to go beyond the black and white categorization of Truth and come back to start again – for one could be worse than a swinger of branches. One could be an ice storm which razes the Truth of birches forever to the ground.

Robert Frost’s “Birches” is one of the most widely appreciated poems. It is a fine example of the poet’s power to fuse observation and imagination. Frost belongs to the pastoral tradition. Most of his poems reveal the beautiful countryside of New England. They also express the national spirit of America. If his poems are closely read, they can be seen as philosophical, as they touch upon the complexities of life. This paper is an analysis of the poem, “Birches”, to highlight the delight and wisdom it radiates.

The poet one day sees some birches bend to left and right and they evoke in him nostalgic memories of his childhood. He thinks that some boys must have done it. However, immediately he realizes that the boys cannot bend them the way they are: “swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay/ Ice storms do that” (Frost). Therefore, the only possibility is a heavy ice storm. Frost then observes the ice blocks lying trapped on the trees. Such blocks get melted away as the sun warms up and they fall down cracking into pieces: “Such heaps of broken glass sweep away” (Frost). The broken pieces are then swept away by the wind. The trees cannot straighten themselves easily after such an event. They remain in that arched position for years.

The most beautiful description in the poem is the comparison made by the poet between the sight of the arched trees and that of some beautiful girls drying their hair in the sun. The trees “trailing their leaves on the ground” are compared to the “girls on their hands and knees that throw their hair” (Frost). The sunlight after a rain, the broken ice pieces, the birches lying bent and the soft breeze blowing bring memories of his early days. The poet wants to link this enchanting sight with his favorite leisure time activities in his childhood, but the “Truth broke in”, the truth of the ice storms bending the trees.

The poet, therefore, returns to his earlier statement: “I should prefer to have some boy bend them”. He recollects the sight of the boys in New England going out to fetch the cows, and as they find the birch trees, they swing and bend them down. “By riding them over and over again”, they take away the stiffness of the trees. The boys ensure that not even one tree is left unconquered. What is great about this game is that the poet is able to learn a great deal from it about life. He learns the art of going up and coming down, and not simply going up alone. The boys, like the poet, also learn how to balance themselves after reaching the top of the birches. The game has so delighted the poet that he compares the climbing to the care one gives in filling up a cup. It is like “filling above the brim” (Frost). After reaching the top of the trees the boys fling outward, “kicking his way down through the air to the ground” (Frost). As the poet was once himself a swinger of birches, he knows the pleasure of swinging. One reason why he wants to go back to those good old days is that the present life is full of problems.

Suddenly the poet becomes conscious of the hard reality of life. In this “pathless wood”, he says, “your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs/ Broken across it” (Frost). Therefore, the trees give him an escape route, to go away from the hard reality. However, he does not want to be mistaken. The most important part of the poem is when the poet says that he wants to go up “And then come back to it and begin again” (Frost). He realizes that God may hear only half of his prayer and he may be denied of his desire to come down, he may be “snatched away/ Not to return” (Frost). Therefore, he not only makes corrections but also asserts that “Earth’s is the right place for love: / I don’t know where it is likely to go better” (Frost). This is taken as an example to show how robust an optimist Frost is.

Once again the poet makes his position clear. He says he would like to climb the birch trees. He likes climbing up and up the trees that point toward heaven. When the trees cannot bear him anymore, he will dip down to reach back to the ground. This will enable him both, the pleasure of going up and coming down. This is the greatness of swinging birch trees. One can experience the pleasure of both heaven and earth.

A Frostian poem begins with a clear and concrete situation which is taken from the life of an ordinary man. It gives great delight to the reader, but gradually he is forced to a philosophic speculation. The poem also brings out man’s relationship with nature. Frost does not exaggerate the situation, but he is fond of understatements. Beneath the simplicity of his poems, like “Birches”, lies the complexity of life. This is very much evident in this poem. Initially he invites the readers to see the beauty of nature, the bent birch trees after a storm. Then he moves on to his main task of inducing insight by asserting that earth is the right place to love.

The poem, thus, is a reminder to those who feel that happiness can be found only after this life, in heaven. Even if one tries to soar in his imagination towards some fantastic world, he must come back, like the birch swingers, to this earth. “Birches”, therefore, is a very optimistic poem. Without making it a prosaic verse, Frost has managed the blank verse in the poem beautifully. He has beautifully mingled wisdom and fancy in this poem. It is light, serious, reminiscent, realistic, and he has beautifully blended in it fun and thought. It has been well accepted not only by the readers but also by the scholars and the academicians. It is taught in classrooms all over the world.