Explication of “Birches” by Robert Frost
According to the speaker and author Robert Frost, enduring life’s challenges can be easier by finding a balance between imagination and real life. The tone of the poem is nostalgic. The poem is divided into four parts: an introduction, an analysis of the bending of birch trees, an imaginative untrue analysis of the farm boy swinging on birches, and a wish Frost makes, wanting to return to his childhood. All of these sections have underlying philosophical meanings. Personification, alliteration, metaphor, and other sound devices support these meanings and themes. “Birches” exibits no rhythm sceme or specific line length which suggests it is free verse.
In the first section of the poem, Frost explains the appearance of the birches. Frost wants to believe that the branches of the birches bend and sway because of a boy swinging on them. However, Frost suggests that repeated ice storms are what bend the branches. Frost compares the breaking away of the ice from the trees to the “dome of heaven” shattering (Line 13). This could be a metaphor for life using imagery. The ice can symbolize difficult times that come in life, while the ice breaking away may represent renewed hope for the

In the final portion of the poem, Frost deals with the image of an adult’s perspective of the birch trees and how it relates to adult life. Frost is reflecting back to a boy’s innocent childhood experience. The adult yearns to return in time to a carefree life. He says “it’s when I’m weary” (43) and he seems to have lost his way, that he would like to “get away from earth awhile” (48) and then come back to relive this joyous, carefree period in his life. Frost goes on to say, “May no fate willfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better” (50-53). These lines suggest that bad things can happen on earth, however beauty, happiness and love still exist. They are constantly bending to keep the delicate balance between life, nature, and truth. However, the frustration of life sometimes makes it "too much like a pathless wood" (44). After stating that he himself has been "a swinger of birches" (59). 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" (59), sounds relaxed, thoughtful, resolved. After he takes a mental vacation into the forest, the adult comes back to reality refreshed, ready for love and ready to face reality again.

r the future. Initially, the forest scene describes, "crystal shells Sh