Hannah Barss | Leah Nusgart | Megan Mulder | Zak Suleman | Karah Walker
Birches Robert Frost 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. But swinging doesn¶t bend them down to stay. Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice 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-crustSuch heaps of broken glass to sweep away You¶d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. 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: 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. 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 fetch the cowsSome boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself, Summer or winter, and could play a lone. 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 not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned a ll 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. So was I once myself a sw inger 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¶s having lashed across it open. I¶d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. 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. I¶d like to go by climbing a birch tree, And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward 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 worse than be a swinger of birches.
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A. Subject Matter a. Paraphrase i. When I see bent birches, I like to think a boy has been swinging them. But, as an old man, I know that swinging birches does not keep them bent like this. Ice storms do that, and once they¶ve been bent for such a long time, they remain bowed. Even though Reality is clamouring to have her say, I want to imagine that the birches have been bent by a boy. This boy lives very far away from town and climbs the birches, making the trees his imaginary friends. I did what this imaginary boy did, once, and I still dream of becoming like a young boy again. The world is full of things to think about and the wrinkles in my face burn. I am weary of it, and I would just like to climb a tree and become lost in my imagination again. I would be happy to come back to earth again after. After all, Earth is the best place to love. If I had to choose the last thing to do in my life, I would climb a birch tree, as high as I could before my weight overcame it and it dipped me back to earth. I would enjoy climbing up and sinking down. There are worse things to be, than swinging on birches.
B. Structure & Structural Effects a. Blank verse i. Most commonly used by Shakespeare in plays ii. Shakespeare developed his use of blank verse. He created beautiful imagery using the form but it was difficult to perfect blank verse at risk of sounding boring and monotonous. b. Typical of Frost¶s narratives i. Mending Wall, The Tuft of Flowers, many (MANY) others c. First few lines are in very strict iambic pentameter, giving the reader a guide to follow. Throughout the poem he varies the meter, keeping the reader on their toes d. By combining tone with meter, the poem becomes conversational and easy to read e. Three distinct ³sections: i. Lines 1-20 1. Reality; what actually happened to make the birch trees bend. ii. Lines 21-40 1. What the speaker likes to imagine happened. iii. Lines 41-59 1. The speaker reminisces 2. The speaker muses on his place in the world.
C. Diction a. But I was going to say when Truth broke in. i. Re-introduces the theme of ideal vs. real. ³Broke´ implies the idea of the narrator being in a kind of daydream state. This line structurally structura lly acts as a stop to the more sweeping descriptions of the stanzas before and a transition between the realistic setting before to the idealistic setting to come. b. E arth¶s arth¶s the right place for love i. Serves to ground the poems intended meaning. The previous stanzas express a dissatisfaction with life, and could imply that the character wishes to be a ³swinger of birches´ for the escape quality. c. But dipped its top and sent me down again. i. It is here that we realizes the character wishes to be a ³swinger of birches´ for the ability to step out of life periodically, to the realm of the whimsical, and come back to the real, from the real. (³again´) d. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches. i. In the structure of the poem, the character enact the ³swinging of birches.´ He begins with the real, then moves to the ideal then comes back to the real. He wishes to a ³swinger of birches,´ but in reality he already is one, in his digression to the ideal and return to the real. e. Metaphors i. Swinging birches as youth 1. The character talks about climbing trees as an escape from responsibility, ³I¶d like to get away from the earth for awhile´ Line 48 ii. Simile 1. Life like a ³pathless wood´ Line 44 iii. Onomatopoeia 1. ³cracks and crazes´ Line 9 iv. Imagery 1. The boy swinging for play, ³Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, kicking his way down the through the air to the ground.´ Line 40 ± 41 a. Gives a sense of innocence of childhood 2. ³Until he took them stiffness out of him, and not but one hung limp, not one was left for him to conquer.´ Line 30 ± 33 a. Giving
D. Imagery Although Frost's use of imagery in this poem differs as the poem progresses, one constant theme throughout the poem is that of contrast. In the first part of the poem, as the narrator talks about ice storms, Frost's imagery is harsh, creating an atmosphere of crackling energy and shattered glass. As the poem progresses, we see that the images conveyed through words transform into something joyous, exultant, and perhaps even soft. As the poem is split into two sections, we shall also split the imagery into two sections. The first is the imagery used as the narrator explains the true reason for the bending of the birches. The second is the imagined reason for the shape of the birches. As we look at the separation of the poem we should note the progression of the imagery.
a. Lines 1-20: i. First contrast we see is in the first two lines: hen I see birches bend to left and right W hen Across the lines of straighter darker trees, ii. Birches, light against the dark, bowed against the straight, the first image we see iii. The paleness against the dark, and the fluidity against the rigid denotes different imagery used by Frost iv. Word Choice such as: 1. ³shattering´ (Line 11) 2. ³avalanching´ (Line 11) a. Enhances image in our mind because of strong language b. Instead of bland language, uses language which produces image of ice falling violently and quickly from trees c. Lines 1-20 the imagery is beautiful, but almost negative i. S uch uch heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. fallen . 1. Picture of a shattered heaven is beautiful, and yet disturbing ii. Most poignant use of imagery is at the end of this section: 1. 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. a. Creates an image of grace, beauty, timeless youth b. Words such as: i. ³arching´ ii. ³trailing´ iii. Creates image of suppleness, litheness in trees b. Lines 21-59: i. As poem progresses into narrator's fantasy, imagery softens ii. Lines 24-27 read like a story, imagery is like a picture book of a lonely boy whose only friends are birches iii. Triumphant tone to next part of poem through imagery of boy ³subduing´ and ³conquering´ trees
E. Rhetorical Devices a. Similes and metaphors: Frost employs richly descriptive similes to convey his contemplations. i. Like girls on hands and knees who throw their hair before them to dry in the sun. 1. Frost conjures unusual imagery, which makes the reader pause and pay attention to the intent of the passage. ii. W ith ith the same pains you¶d use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. 1. Speaks to the devotional care the boy puts into his past time, This is not something he does in passing, but spends hours perfecting, as other boys might perfect sports.
iii. life is too much like a pathless wood 1. The oppressiveness and uncertainties of adulthood. 2. Could also be a way for Frost to portray the speaker as an old farmer, familiar with the woods. b. Personification: Often to the things outside of the speakers control, which he recognizes but often chooses or hopes to ignore. The fantasy of the child ³conquering´ the birches could speak to efforts to control or alter our own environments, to grant a sort of power that the speaker later in life yearns for and chooses to pursue through his own fantasy. i. The Birches 1. Dipped its top and set me down again. 2. His imagined avenue to and from heaven. ii. Truth 1. when Truth broke in with all her matter-of-fact 2. Truth is recognized in the poem, but pushed aside in favor of a more appealing scenario that moves towards an observation about life. iii. Fate 1. M ay ay no fate willfully misunderstand me. 2. Fate is something out of his control that he cannot push aside in his fantasy. c. Alliteration i. The ³s´ sound as he explains the ice storm which bent the birches. ii. A powerful sound in affecting the pace, and emotion of a poem. d. Onomatopoeia i. Often used to describe an action, add depth to the imagery of the poem and a more realistic impression.
F. Metaphor a. The speaker considers the bent birches in three ways: i. The ³Truth´: the trees bent by the ice-storm ii. The young boy swinging on them so often they stay bent. iii. As an escape from ordinary life. b. The speaker expresses his desire to return to the days when he was a a ³swinger of birches.´ i. ³I¶d like to get away from earth awhile´ ii. He likens birch swinging to the ability to escape everyday life for a short time to climb ³towards heaven. iii. To him, this is an ideal (and romantic) way of life. 1. He is neither stuck in heaven or earth, but can move in between, ³Toward heaven..but dipped its top and set me down again´ c. Interplay (like the swinging of the trees) between his adult recognition of the ³Truth´, and his preferred fantasy inspired by the birches. d. Reflection on childhood joys and simple knowledge. The boy ³learned all there was to learn´ about this one activity, there is a confidence and simplicity to it that is often a nostalgic feeling to adults such as the speaker. e. Solitary contemplation.
i. Like in ³stopping by the woods..´ The speaker is a solitary figure who is wearied in his obligations to the world. 1. It¶s when I¶m weary of consideration, and life is too much like a pathless wood ii. The bent birches are a form of escapism. He wants to imagine that they are bent from a lonely boy¶s fun. 1. Again, the boy is a solitary figure, ³Far from the town´ iii. The metaphor extends to the speakers desire to return to earth, and not stay in heaven. 1. ³I¶d like to get away from earth a while´ 2. It is like a perfect fantasy, where the speaker can climb to heaven, and forget about earth for a while, but as soon as he climbs too far, the tree bends and he is set gently back down to earth, where he can love. Where there are no ill consequences.
G. Themes / Main Ideas a. Blissfulness Blissfulness of Ignorance i. The narrator is faced with bent birches. As an old man looking back, nostalgic and reminiscent, he wants to see that young boys have bent them (imagination and creativity), even remember that he used to do this once. But his mind is straying and can no longer stay only in made-believe worlds, so he sees also that they have been bent by ice storms. 1. I like to think some boy¶s been swinging them. But swinging doesn¶t bend them down to stay. a. The ³but´ is telling. He wants to believe in good things, but his long life has shown him that not everything is beautiful and carefree. b. Contrast between playful mischief of young boys and fierce permanence of ice storms. 2. But I was going to say when Truth broke in ith all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm W ith I should prefer to have some boy bend them a. The trees are the boy¶s only friends. He plays with them as with people, and there is blissfulness in being able to play alone, a certain carefree-ness. b. Truth ³breaks´ in, harsh and unwanted. The speaker ³prefers´ what he imagines has happened instead of what he knows has really happened. b. Tension between the real world and the world of the imagination ± and the speaker wanting both i. I¶d like to go by climbing a birch tree, And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward 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 worse than be a swinger of birches. 1. In Frost¶s world, there is heaven, and there is earth. The speaker wants to be the boy, climbing up to heaven for a brief break. The same qualities in the birch tree that allow him to climb closer to heaven also cause him to bend back down towards earth. 2. He¶s content with this, however, describing both going and coming back as good.
3. In the end, the speaker is satisfied with his brief journeys closer to heaven, into his imagination and thoughtfulness, but he¶s also equally satisfied to come back down and live in the here and now. ii. There is also tension between the boy¶s POV and the old man¶s POV. The boy, like all children, bends the world around him to suit his own view (he makes the trees his friends). The man, on the other hand, has had Truth break in and heaven fall down: expresses a desire to live in the child¶s world, which is much more friendly.
H. Tone a. Tone is reminiscent, some ³I wish´ i. ³So I was once myself myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream dr eam of going back to be.´ Line 41 ± 42 1. Evokes a sense of longing, and of remembrance. b. Wistful/ playful/ silly tone i. ³I should prefer to have some boy bend them´ Line 23 1. Referring to the birches bent by ice, by saying he wished they were bent by a boy¶s play. ii. ³no one was left for him to conquer´ Line 31-32 c. Tone is not serious. i. ³I¶d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to think it over. May no fate willfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away.´ Line 48-51 1. The author doesn¶t wish to be taken seriously.
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Critical Views a. Frank Lentricchia i. In "Birches" ( M ountain ountain Interval , 1916) Frost begins to probe the power of his redemptive imagination as it moves from its playful phase toward the brink of dangerous transcendence. The movement into transcendence is a movement into a realm of radical imaginative freedom where (because redemption has succeeded too well) all possibilities of engagement with the common realities of experience are dissolved. In its moderation, a redemptive consciousness motivates union between selves as we have seen in "The Generations of Men," or in any number of Frost's love poems. But in its extreme forms, redemptive consciousness can become self-defeating as it presses the imaginative man into deepest isolation
b. John C. Kemp i. It may seem arbitrary to press too hard the issue of honesty in this poem. Art, after all, relies on fantasy and deception. Yet there are different types of fantasy and many motives for deception. If we are confident that an artist has kept faith with some personal vision or inner self, we can accept falsification of many things. When Frost presents himself as a farm worker, for instance a mower wielding his scythe or apple picker resting his weary body--the fantasy seems sincere and convincing. When we consider Frost's career and personal history, however, we may wonder about his motives in falsifying the character of his childhood. The resulting images lack originality and inspiration. Surely "Birches" contains some vivid and forceful passages, but when a line or phrase gives us too strong a sense of the poet's calculated effort to validate his speaker's rusticity, the spell of the poem, its incantatory charm and imaginative vision, is threatened. Fortunately, in "Birches" this threat is hardly noticeable, certainly not overwhelming or repellent, unless we want it to be. c. George Montiero i. The way in which Robert Frost came to write "Birches" is described by Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant: "As for the poet, 'who never saw New England as clearly as when he was in Old England,' he could not tie down his creative moments. It was about this time, early in 1914, while tramping the muddy yard at the Bungalow [West Midlands], that he suddenly; he says, wrote a new poem, not to be included in N orth orth of Boston. This was the now so famous and beloved 'Birches,' with its cold and crystal memories of another kind of wintry world." As this account suggests, Frost's poem might have reflected pure, almost spontaneous invention, but if so, it was stimulated by memories of boyhood experiences of winter and summer in northern New England and sharpened by the perspective of the poet's self-imposed exile. What I would suggest, however, is that in "Birches," even though Frost saw New England most clearly when he was in Old England, he re-viewed his wintry New England scene through Thoreauvian eyes. d. Guy Rotella i. In the end, dividing Frost's poetic images into fact, dream and both is impossible. Frost undermines such divisions in a manner both playful and serious, exploring slippery issues about the natures of perception, interpretation, reality and truth. His poems often illustrate the mind seeking out metaphor and meaning in some rural or domestic scene, testing different possibilities. They also show with varying degrees of irony the mind, language, and familiar, perhaps inherent, myths imposing themselves on a landscape. Or maybe the landscape imposes something on the mind. . . . e. Floyd C. Watkins i. " Toward heaven" Toward heaven" but never to never to,, never all the way. Frost fears transcendence. Despite all the apparent moralizing ("earth's the right place for love"), this passage is one of the most skeptical in Frost. He contemplates a moment when the soul may become completely absorbed into a union with the divine. But he is earthbound, limited, afraid. No sooner does he wish to get away from earth than he thinks of "fate" - rather than God. And what might be a mystical experience turns into a fear of death, a fear that he would be snatched away "not to return." He rejects the unknown, the love of God, because he cannot know it, and he clings to the finite.
