Birches by Robert Frost
Birches by Robert FrostBirches
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees
I like to think of some boy’s been 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 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 brackin 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.
In the first section, Frost explains the birches appearances scientifically. He implys that natural phenomenons make the branches of the birch trees sway. He explains that ice storms, which are a characteristic of New England weather, can cause the branches to become heavy and bend. Birches have a black background with crackled snow white bark on top of the black bark. It has an unusual appearance because both the black and the white are visable at once. Frost offers many suggestions for their appearance. It maybe due to the ice breaking that is burdened on the bark. The breeze causes the ice to move and crack certain parts of the bark, creating a crackling effect. “As the [ice] stir cracks and crazes their enamel.” He also compares this image to that of breaking glass and compares it to the “dome of heaven” shattering. My personal favorite is the shattering of the dome in heaven. I think this creates a vivid image for the reader. He goes on to say that once the branches are bent, they never return completely upright again, but they are so flexible that they never break.”You may see their trunks arching in the woods/ Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground.” These are some of the natural phenomenons that Frost mentions to explain the appearance of Birch trees.
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 catch 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 no one but limp, not one was left
For him not to conquer. He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to...
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