Birches Essays - Birches, Robert Frost, Frost,

Birches Birches Pauletta Brooks Introduction to Literature Chris Cox 11-22-99 I believe so much of poetry enlists the senses, beginning with the sense of sound. Whether it's the rhythmic flow of the poem or the mere need to recite the words for a clearer understanding. The sense of sight can't help but participate while one reads a poem. It's like asking an artist to paint how he feels. Imagery is a key part of poetry creating a visual understanding. In the end poetry give a voice to the unsayable in our lives and indeed to life itself. After reading ?Birches? by Robert Frost, my senses were reeling. The poem reads beautifully and is soothing to the ear. The imagery also paints a scene I have witnessed many winter days, growing up in the mountains. Robert Frost, while knowing the realistic cause behind the bent birch trees, prefers to add an imaginative interpretation behind the bending of the birches. He also uses the entire poem to say something profound about life. I feel it is indeed a message that, yes life may get hard, and we may lose our way, but there is still innocence and beauty in our world. We just need to remember. In the first section of the poem, Frost explains the appearance of the birches scientifically. He implies that natural phenomenon makes the branches of the birches bend and sway. Frost suggests that repeated ice storms are the real culprit to the bending branches. He however, takes the ordinary and mundane and makes it extraordinary, even comparing the breaking away of the ice from the trees to the ?dome of heaven? shattering. Frost also lends sound to his description of the branches as ?they click upon themselves As the breeze rises.? Frost explains the branches are bent by the ice, but do not break. Frost again adds beautiful imagery comparing the bent branches ?trailing their leaves on the ground? to ?girls on hands and knees throwing their hair before them to dry in the sun.? Frost, like an artist, paints a picture so beautiful of the birch trees that I can't imagine anyone reading this poem would not have a desire to see a birch in the icy winter for themselves. Frost then suggests that he had rather imagine a little boy causing the bending of the branches by swinging and playing on them. He begins to tell a story within the poem. It is a story of a little boy living in a rural territory, possibly a farm, going 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. He has become accustomed to playing on his father's trees, one by one he would conquer them all. He has been a frequent swinger of the birches and has taken the stiffness out of them and caused the branches to bend. Frost goes on to say ?He learned all there was to learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away.? The little boy knows exactly how far to bend the branches without breaking them. Frost uses the image of filling a cup to the brim ?and even above the brim? to illustrate to the reader just h ow close the boy is to breaking the branches. We all have filled our cups to the top and then had the challenge of carrying the cup without spilling the contents. Frost again has used a simple comparison to make his point. I, like Frost, prefer the explanation of the bent birches being caused by a little boy swinging on them. Little boys and trees seem to go hand in hand. I find it interesting that in the beginning Frost sees the birches in the winter, covered with ice. Then in the next section, when he envisions a young boy playing on them, the image of summer comes to mind. I see this as saying, the times that we bend, are not defined by the seasons. Good times and those bending (hard times) transcend throughout the times of our lives. He goes on