Poets utilize imagery to communicate meaning, sentiments, and emotions. Robert Frost is renowned for his exceptional use of imagery in contemporary poetry. His poem “The Road Not Taken” shed light on Frost’s artistic creations, captivating poetic readers and critics alike. Frost expertly employs language elements like diction and syntax to captivate and stir the reader’s soul.
Robert Frost’s “Birches” is a poem that depicts the speaker’s reflections on the birch trees in a peaceful New England environment. The speaker observes the enduring curvature of the trees caused by regular ice storms, as well as the boy who joyfully climbs them. The speaker holds an appreciation for these trees, as they contribute to his comforting surroundings. He expresses a preference for the branches to be bent by a boy rather than through natural forces, as the trees hold a special place in his heart, and he wishes to avoid their suffering and destruction being futile.
Line 41 marks a shift in the speaker’s tone, becoming reflective as he recollects his childhood experiences of swinging through the birches. He expresses a desire for the bending and swaying of the branches to be carried out by a boy, who would relish in the enjoyment it brings. Throughout lines 41-59, the speaker reminisces about his younger days, yearning to revisit the same trees, bending their branches and taking pleasure in the tinkling sound they make after an ice storm. Additionally, he mentions the rising breeze (lines 7-8) that accompanies these moments.
There is more depth to a poem than its literal interpretation alone. Robert Frost, a master of language and the written word, conceals his meanings beneath the descriptions of nature. In his talk, “Education by Poetry,” Frost expresses his use of this technique to communicate with readers: “Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another.” Often, people question why we don’t simply say what we mean. However, as humans, we are all akin to poets in that we prefer to communicate through parables, hints, and the use of indirect language, perhaps out of diffidence or some other instinct.
In Birches, Robert Frost uses the metaphor of a tree to symbolize life. Additionally, he employs an ice storm to represent the hardships and obstacles that the speaker has faced in life. Furthermore, the word “heaven” is used to convey the concept of happiness. Frost’s choice of words in the poem effectively conveys various emotions and feelings to the reader. Birches evokes sensory experiences through sight, sound, and touch. For example, the opening lines of the poem create vivid imagery in the reader’s mind, resembling scenes from a movie: “When I see birches bend to left and right / Across the lines of straighter darker trees, / I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.” (Lines 1-3)
One observes a tree swaying, with more trees behind it forming a dense forest, and ultimately a boy appears in the scene as the reason behind the swaying. In lines four and five, the boy directly addresses the reader, involving them more deeply in the poem and enabling them to internalize the described experience as their own. Frost employs alliteration to assist him in his endeavor to generate sound through language. The words click upon each other as the breeze picks up, and take on various colors as the movement fractures and damages their coating.
The words “Click,” “cracks,” and “crazes” all describe a sound, but they do so in a very direct manner. The repeated use of the letter “c” in these words emphasizes the sound being portrayed and creates a connection within the lines. Suddenly, the tone of the poem shifts: “Soon the suns warmth makes them shed crystal shells/Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust/Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away” (Lines 10-12).
Once again, the author employs alliteration to maintain a rhythmic flow in the text. The usage of words like soon, sun, shed, shattering, snow, such, and sweep introduces a fresh sensation to the tree. The tree is transforming; the ice is no longer crashing and severe to the viewer.
In lines 32-38, Frost delves into the reader’s inner thoughts and emotions, specifically focusing on the concept of concentration. We can all relate to the experience of putting in a tremendous amount of effort to accomplish a difficult task, whether it be climbing a flexible tree or attempting to fill a cup beyond its maximum capacity (as expressed in line 38). As the portrayed boy sways away from and then back towards the ground, the reader eagerly wonders if he will succeed unscathed. However, instead of providing a definitive answer, Frost offers a reflective and wistful tone.
In line 41, the poem undergoes a significant shift in perspective. The speaker transitions from discussing the boy being observed to reflecting on his own childhood. This shift provides an opportunity for readers to uncover an alternate interpretation of the poem. As the speaker contemplates, the trees also undergo a transformation in shape. Line 48 expresses the speaker’s desire to temporarily escape from Earth.
By earth, the speaker signifies life and expresses a desire to escape from the challenges he has faced. In line 44, he candidly states that life resembles a forest without a clear path, symbolizing his uncertainty about the future. He longs to return to his childhood when he could climb birch trees without concern for the consequences. The lines 49-56 evoke a sense of joyfulness, as the speaker hopes that fate will understand his intentions and grant him his wishes fully instead of teasingly providing only a portion. He wishes to be taken away from his current existence and not brought back. The speaker believes that earth is the ideal place for love and concedes that he doesn’t know of a better alternative.
I would love to ascend a birch tree, climbing up its black branches along a snow-white trunk, reaching towards heaven until the tree can no longer support me. This excerpt, resembling a movie, depicts a man leaving his troubles behind and scaling the same birch tree. However, in this instance, his purpose is to reach heaven, finding love and happiness without any surrounding darkness.
The poem concludes with a few uncomplicated lines suggesting that finding joy by returning to the innocence of childhood would be rewarding. Being a swinger of birches is not a bad choice. (Line 59) This closing line aims to leave the reader nostalgic for innocence and optimistic about the existence of carefree affection in the grown-up world.
Robert Frost employs diction and syntax to transport the reader across realms encompassing the present, past, and even dreams, ensuring their involvement in every word and phrase. The interpretation of his words is open-ended: Some may choose to perceive Birches at a literal level, extracting the definitive meaning of each word to comprehend the poem as a whole. Alternatively, one may opt to delve into the connotations of the words, enabling a reading that resonates with the reader’s own life experiences.
