BIRCHES by Robert Frost
Analysis by Lawal Olajide
Birches is a poem that takes you into the woods and nearly up to heaven. It is one of the most popular of Frost’s BLANK VERSE creations and was first published in 1916 in his book Mountain Interval.
In the words of the poet himself, Birches is ‘two fragments soldered together ‘, that is, he first intended the poem to have two definite angles – one concentrating on the ice-storm bending birch branches, the other detailing the boy swinging on them.
Frost decided to stick to a single, simple title and, as it stands, Birches became one long exploration of the speaker’s relationship to the Truth, split into three aspects viz-a-viz:
1. naturalistic (the ice-storm’s effect on the birch trees),
2. personal (the boy ‘conquering’ the trees),
3. philosophical (the balance between reality and idealism).
Although the majority of the poem is written in IAMBIC PENTAMETER, there are considerable movements away from the steady rhythm in certain lines, which we’ll explore later on line by line in the analysis.
Birches develops a subtle tension as a result of this deviation alongside meaning, the reader never really knowing if the tree branches will break and crash, due to natural causes, or if the boy’s swinging on them is pure fantasy or not.
The poet tests the reader again and again, typical Frost, living up to his famous quote that poetry ‘plays perilously between truth and make believe.’
In some respects the poem is an extended METAPHOR, the birch trees representing creative life itself, their flexibility the fragile support each person needs to strike a balance and to overcome what can be a precarious human existence. Come back down to reality the speaker implies, but enjoy odd moments of freedom.
Real life can be hard, so why not escape into idealism, transcend the mundane, swing a little? Frost chose the former, being a pragmatist, clinging to the finite, occasionally swinging but not too close to heaven.
The poem always deplore the use of a the run-on-line in its structure
The Poem
Birches
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
As ice-storms do. 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-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 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 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 not one but hung limp, not one was left
For him 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.
So was I 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’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.
SUMMARY AND THEME OF BIRCHES
The poet singled out the Birch trees among several other trees because of its symbol and idealistic relation to his perspective of life. While other straighter and darker trees stand straight, the Birch bends either to the right or left.
“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.
This led to the curiosity of the poet into inquiring into the reason behind the bending of the tree while others stand straight. This underscores the fact that every person has his or her own unique experience of life and how we react to this experiences differ.
The inquiry led the poet to identify two possible causes of the tree bending, which are; boys swinging on them and ice storm. He quickly establishes by more reliable facts that the trees could not have been bent over by the boys, instead by the ice storms.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay
As ice-storms do…….
The poet stated that during winter, the trees are loaded with ice after the rains. The weight of the ice may them give a clicking sound. Using ONOMATOPOEIA, the poet states, “They click upon themselves
as the breeze rises….,” This statement are used to depict the harsh effect or burdened experience faced by the Birches, which also points to the fact that life is hard. He states further using a METAPHOR that, the Birches, “….turn many-colored, as the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.”
There was a brief relief, when the sun began to shine. The sun’s warmth melts the ice and makes them SHED CRYSTAL SHELLS – (Note also the alliteration used here). Continue in the use of metaphors, the poet compares to melting of the ice to SHATTERING and AVALANCHING on the snow crust, sweeping away the heaps of BROKEN GLASS. The poet deplored the use of personification when he said, “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:” This underscores the fact that with the effect of this adverse situation, the Birches endured it all even though the load impaired their physical look.
The poet creates a vivid picture of the effect of the load on the birches, which made the Birches form an inverted ‘U’ shape with their trunks arching in the woods, many years after the load has all melted away.
He uses SIMILE to clearly depict the image of such posture saying, “……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.”
However, the truth can be boring. So the poet chose rather a more interesting turn to the make believe story rather than the fact. The poet in establishing this preference stated, “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 cows” Life has two faces and each of these faces has its own significance and importance. The poet explores the other side of the coin, which is the make believe aspect of the situation.
This exposition leads to the children from other part of the country, who have no opportunity to be exposed to real life of the rich or the privileged ones neither have they learnt how to play baseball. These set of children only play with what they find either by the road side or in the wood. They find adventure in themselves all by themselves and in what toy nature has provided them with. When these children find the Birches, the climb on them and swing them until they have subdued same. It is exaggeration (HYPERBOLE) to say that he subdue every of the tree until there is nothing left for him to conquer.
In these lines of poem, the poet compares the swinging and subduing or conquering of these trees to a task that must be carried out. It was like a goal that must and has been achieved. This also underscores undaunted spirit. One after the other, one step at a time, a task is fully carried out. This is another intelligent use of Metaphor. In the words of the poet, he states that, “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.” In carrying out this task, the poet highlighted the requirements necessary to be successful in any endeavor one is willing to undertake. He states, “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.” These lines celebrate careful and meticulous hard work. There is much to learn if one must be successful in any endeavor. So, the boy learnt all he has to learn and was careful and meticulous in carrying out every step.
The poet called it painful. Not that it was painful literally but to create a literary effect, he used the words ‘with the same pain’. A synonym of meticulous is painstaking, which means taking the pain of being careful and not leaving any stone unturned. What followed his painstaking venture was that having learnt and being careful, he flung himself outward with his feet first. One must note at this point that after a painful exercise of caution, there is a world of pleasure and gain. “Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.”
The poet then drew his mind back at what he used to be, ‘a swinger of birches.’ The fun and pleasure attached to this act of his made him wish to still be a swinger of birches. At this point, the poet drew another similarities between the situation of life and swinging of birches. He had experience the harshness of this world and in a bid to give a clear description of how hard life could be, he stated, “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.” At this point, one needs to take a break. The poet states further, “I’d like to get away from earth awhile and then come back to it and begin over.”
Taking a break here, the poet stated that it doesn’t mean he is tired of life and want to die. He appealed to fate not to misinterpret his desires to be off a while. All he wished was an opportunity to clear his head and return to life arduous task of surviving. “May no fate willfully misunderstand me and half grant what I wish and snatch me away not to return.” Life may be hard, harsh and tough, it doesn’t mean man wants to die. The poet states that, “Earth’s the right place for love: I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.” The best one can do is “…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.”
Taking a break and coming over to face life and its challenges over and again, “That would be good both going and coming back.”
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
Unprecedented 