Birches by Robert Frost
Birches by Robert FrostBirches
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees
I like to think of some boy’s been swinging on them
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay
As ice storms do. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice and a sunny winter morning
After a rain. 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 avalanching on the snow crust-
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered brackin by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
In the first section, Frost explains the birches appearances scientifically. He implys that natural phenomenons make the branches of the birch trees sway. He explains that ice storms, which are a characteristic of New England weather, can cause the branches to become heavy and bend. Birches have a black background with crackled snow white bark on top of the black bark. It has an unusual appearance because both the black and the white are visable at once. Frost offers many suggestions for their appearance. It maybe due to the ice breaking that is burdened on the bark. The breeze causes the ice to move and crack certain parts of the bark, creating a crackling effect. “As the [ice] stir cracks and crazes their enamel.” He also compares this image to that of breaking glass and compares it to the “dome of heaven” shattering. My personal favorite is the shattering of the dome in heaven. I think this creates a vivid image for the reader. He goes on to say that once the branches are bent, they never return completely upright again, but they are so flexible that they never break.”You may see their trunks arching in the woods/ Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground.” These are some of the natural phenomenons that Frost mentions to explain the appearance of Birch trees.
But I was going to say when truth broke in
With all her matter of fact about the ice storm
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to catch 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.
One by one he subdued his father’s trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And no one but limp, not one was left
For him not to conquer. He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise
To the top branches, climbing carefully
With the same pains you use to fill a cup
Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
Frost then goes on to offer a more fantasy-like interpretation that he knows is not the real reason for their appearance, but it is imaginative and creative. He imagines little boys could have caused this bending of the branches to happen because they were swinging and playing on them. He then begins to tell a fable-like story that could explain their appearance. He describes a young boy that lives in a rural territory, possibly a farm, that goes out to do his chores, like fetching the cows, but gets side tracked by both the beauty of the woods and his wanting to play. Because the little boy is in a secluded environment, he is forced to entertain himself. Therefore, he became accustomed to playing on his father’s trees. One by one, he would conquer them all. He did this on such a frequent basis that he took the stiffness out of them and caused them to bend. Here Frost is offering a far-fetched tale, but a good one non-the-less. It was the boy’s carefree manner of entertainment that was an excuse for the bending of the trees. He then goes on to say that he learned many valuable lessons swinging on the trees. These could be both lessons dealing with life as well as how to play on the trees properly. As all the trees became bent, he learned to swing from tree to tree, but jumping off before they touched the ground. In this paragraph, Frost explores a boy’s, perhaps his own, fantasies with the birch trees. He offers a more child-like approach to explain the appearance of the trees.
So I was once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig having lashed across it open.
I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back and begin all over.
May no fate willingly 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.
I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Towards heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do no worse than be a swinger of birches.
The final part of the poem deals with Frost’s adult views about birch trees and how he relates it to his life. He is reflecting back to a boy’s innoncent childhood experience. Although we are not certain that the boy described in the poem is Frost, it is definately a possibility because he grew up in New England, an area with many birch trees. At the end of the poem, Frost longs to return back in time to this carefree life. Frost says that whenever his life becomes difficult and confusing, he wishes that he could just swing carefreely from branch to branch as he did when he was a child. In fact, he enjoyed this era in his life so much that he is willing to be “reborn” to experience this stage of his life again. He does not want to just simply die, but “die, and be reborn again.” He is not rejecting earth, because he likes earth and all that it has to offer. “Earth’s the right place for love:/ I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.” Although he has grown up, he is still a part of this fantasy world that he would be content “climbing” birches his entire life. He uses the image that the top of the trees represent heaven, and the more he climbs the closer he is to reaching his dream. However, he does not want to reach heaven right this instant, so the bending of the tree would send him back down to earth, or reality. “But dipped its top and set me down again/ That would be good both going and coming.” But he would be perfectly content with his life being a “swinger of birches.”