In the poem "Birches" by Robert Frost, he uses the image of a young boy swinging freely from the branches of birch trees. The boy is careful enough with the branches so they do not break, but simply bend. The poem is remembered through the memory of an older man who travels back to a time to when he was young and carefree, to escape the harsh realities of the real world. Frost's reference to nature allows the reader to distinguish the differences between the young carefree attitude of boyhood compared to the stress, and loss of control in adulthood. Frost also refers to the transition from boyhood to manhood, and how important it is to preserve childhood for long as possible.

The first memory the man recalls is image of a young boy swinging on the birch branches causing them to bend all the way to the ground, but being strong enough to recapture their shape, and not to break. He uses this to describe how the branches bend through the years. Ice storms are the real reasons that the branches bend, but it is not as nice of thought as the boy 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 sunny winter morning

After rain" (Frost). The swinging is used to signify how a young boy does not have any worries because everything in his life just falls back into place, unlike the ice storms that are much like adulthood because once the weight drags the branches down to the ground, it is very hard for them to right themselves.

The first part of the poem is summarized into one single thought, gentleness. Frost seems to be largely concerned with cruelness of earth and the endless possibilities of a creative imagination. Frost uses the image of a young boy who is so mysterious, he is able to accept his surroundings, yet make them into something that makes him happy. The man again refers to the boy bending the branches. This shows how the boy is just so gentle with life, as he wishes he could be. "With all her matter of fact about the ice storm I should prefer to have some boy bend them."(Frost). The man tried to make himself feel better about the hardships in life by covering up the real reasons things happen. Just like in the line, he'd rather picture young boy bending the trees then the harsh cold ice. The man feels that all aspects of life should be looked at in a tender way, but it is very hard to see through the bad to bring out the good.

In explicating this poem, it seems to me that Frost is the man trying to bring back his childhood through his memory of swinging on the birch limbs. In the end he just hopes that no one will misinterpret his wishes of going back to childhood, into thought of wanting to die. "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"(Frost).

Finally, Frost explains how a child should try to preserve his/or her childhood for as long as possible because it will be the most comforting time in a child's life, even when they look back on it, such as the man seems to do when life is getting too hard. The boy is revealed

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Approximate Word count = 1329
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)