Birches -Analysis

A detailed Summary of Birches -Analysis

The Ice Storms of Life and the Birches that Survive them

After reading "Birches" by Robert Frost through many times the main thing I see is the comparison between the consequences of growing out of childhood and whether birches will survive through the harshness of winter. I kept getting a feeling of the inevitable and the feeling of carefreeness of childhood. The first image is one of birches bending towards the ground and there are straight, dark trees by these sad trees. At first there was no feeling of sadness because there are all these images of childhood. Then when there is a realization that these trees are representing life and its trials and tribulations, there is a feeling of being beaten down to the ground, or reality. There is no obvious feeling of this; it is just an image of reality and how there is a fondness of childhood.

The characteristics of the birch and the speaker are alike because before the birch was light colored and carefree in the world until childhood comes along and subdues it, or the ice storm in reality. The boy is carefree and feels in control at play, as an adult he realizes life is not always that way. The straight, dark trees around the birch represent life to me because it is un

Each time the speaker admits the real reasons of the bent birches I get a feeling of coldness and sad abruptness. I found it interesting when the speaker represents truth as a woman. I got a feeling that the speaker was trying to get back his innocence and was annoyed that the truth kept sneaking up on his imagination. When we are children we do not know all of these truths yet, we are in the process of learning them. The lines "As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored/ As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel", I get this feeling of the result of a storm or the way we react to something that has happened to us in our life. Life can be many-colored and we can choose to let it beat us down, bend us down, or be strong and bear the cold winds of life. I think the sun warming the ice on the tree causing it to fall off can be represented like it is in the poem as a bad omen, a part of heaven falling down, which results in the bending of the branches because of the weight of the ice. Or it can represent the shedding of these burdens and surviving because the tree is strong, or the person. The way the boy learns when to launch out after he masters the art of swinging is like how we learn to deal with life's blows.

Throughout the whole poem I feel like I am going through all these emotions with the speaker, like I am inside his mind. I see the speaker closing his eyes at points when he is imagining this boy. The speaker's eyes are open when he is considering the truths of the world. At the end when the speaker is correcting himself gives us a sense of not in control and then he concludes with how people could do worse than swinging through life carefreely, but with the knowledge of "not launching out to soon". Which means that going through life with this kind of attitude brings good results and a little feeling of being in control.

The speaker wants to believe that

Some common words found in the essay are:
Robert Frost, ice storms, Birches Survive, ice storm, pathless wood, speaker believe, bother boy, believe boy bent, straight dark trees, sense control, boy bent, believe boy, life's blows, birches survive,

Approximate Word count = 1278
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English