Isabella Aranguren and Sabrina Gonzalez

Ms. Rachid
English 9
10 April 2018

“Birches” by Robert Frost

Author’s Background:
- Robert Frost was born on March 28, 1874. He spent his first forty years of his life as an
unknown person. Above all, he was greatly known for depicting realistic New England life
through language and situations that relate to the common man. Frost, a winner of four
Pulitzer Prizes, a special guest at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, and one who
became the United States unofficial “poet laureate”, unfortunately died on January
29,1963.

Major Works:
- A boy’s Will, 1915
- North of Boston, 1914
- Mountain Interval, 1916
- New Hampshire, 1923

Summary
- In "Birches" by Robert Frost a man is walking through the woods and starts to imagine
things related to the trees he observes swaying. When he sees the bent birch trees, he
enjoys thinking that they were bent because boys have been “swinging” them. However, he
knowns that they were actually bent by ice storms. Yet he prefers his vision of a young boy
climbing a tree and then swinging at the trees crest to the ground. He remembers doing
this and wishes of going back to those days. This memory makes him realize that life isn’t a
trap because his vigorous imagination can free him at any moment.

Speaker
- The speaker is an old man who is experienced and very nostalgic.
- We get clues throughout the poem that he gets flashbacks of when he was a kid, further
telling us he has experienced various things in life. This man describes his surroundings in
a way that hints at us that he has basically seen it all.
- The speaker is trying to help the readers understand that one may try to imagine a return of
one’s childhood. However, at the end, one lives in the present and tries to overcome the
challenges and struggles that come across one’s way.

Imagery
- Line 1 - 2: “When I see birches bend to left and right — Across the lines of straighter darker
trees”
- Through this use of imagery we are able to use our sense of sight in order to imagine in
our heads how a birch looks. Apart from this, it introduces us to the idea of them being
malleable from describing as they bend from left to right.
- Line 10 - 11: “Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells — Shattering and
avalanching on the snow-crust—..."
 - In these lines, Frost creates a cascade of consonants by layering “s” and “sh” sound in
order to convey the imagery, both visual and auditory, of broken ice pouring down from
the birch branches onto the hard snow below.

Simile
- Lines 43 - 44: “It’s when I’m weary of considerations, — And life is too much like a pathless
wood”
- Comparing life when your older and your tired of making decisions because it has all
come too much, to a pathless wood where you are lost and have nowhere to go.
- This simile highlights the nostalgic tone of the poem by showing how you feel in your youth
by being care free contrasted to the idea of growing older and becoming tired and lost.

Symbolism
- Birch Trees: Trees are the main symbolism in the poem. For example, light birch trees
represent childhood, and dark aging trees represent adulthood. He states that swinging on
these light branches doesn’t break the branch because in “childhood” there aren’t any
problems to worry about.
- These birch trees could also represent life itself, now that life can be fragile like the
branches; everything would collapse because of your bad actions. On the other hand, life
could be flexible like the branches implying that you’ll succeed by managing your actions
correctly.
- The Boy: The boy symbolizes the speaker or the old man in the poem. The boy could be
seen as himself when he was smaller, while playing with the branches of the trees.

Repetition
- Line 3 and 4: “Boy’s swinging”
- Line 4 and 23: “Bend them”
- Line 41 and 59: “Swinger of Birches”
- All of these phrases are repeatedly mentioned in the poem. It shows the readers how the
old man in the poem is imagining the boy swinging on the branches and his childhood.
These phrases take us away from reality and to the state of imagination.

Rhyme
- Blank Verse: 10 syllables per line with no rhyme

Onomatopoeia
- Line 7 - 8: "They click upon themselves — As the breeze rises,..."
- These lines clearly display Frost’s touch with auditory imagery. Frost arouses the sound
of birches as “they click upon themselves” during a passing breeze. The evocation of
this sound is produced by the use of “click”, whose hard “c” sounds mimic the clicking of
the crashing birches.