3. About the Author
Robert Frost (1874-1963) was
one of the major poets of
America. He is highly regarded
for his realistic depictions of rural
life, Frost was honored
frequently during his lifetime,
receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for
Poetry in 1924,1931,1937
&1943. He was also a playwright.
4. 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 I 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
5. 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.
6. But I was going to say when Truth broke in with
With all her matter-of-fact about 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,
7. And not one but hung limb, 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 see 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
8. So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It’s when I am 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 bend over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand
9. And half 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 back 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.
10. NEW WORDS
Birches - a tree with smooth bark and supple,
thin branches
Crazes - shatters
Bracken - a plant which turns red in winter
11. ANALYSIS OF THE POEM
When the narrator looks at the birch trees in the forest, he
imagines that the arching bends in their branches are the result
of a boy “swinging” on them. He realizes that the bends are
actually caused by ice storms - the weight of the ice on the
branches forces them to bend toward the ground - but he
prefers his idea of the boy swinging on the branches, climbing up
the tree trunks and swinging from side to side, from earth up to
heaven. The narrator remembers when he used to swing on
birches and wishes that he could return to those carefree days.
12. Originally, this poem was called “Swinging Birches,” a title that
perhaps provides a more accurate depiction of the subject. In
writing this poem, Frost was inspired by his childhood
experience with swinging on birches, which was a popular
game for children in rural areas of New England during the
time
13. In the poem, the act of swinging on birches is presented as
a way to escape the hard rationality or “Truth” of the adult
world, if only for a moment. As the boy climbs up the tree,
he is climbing toward “heaven” and a place where his
imagination can be free. The narrator explains that
climbing a birch is an opportunity to
“get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.”
A swinger is still grounded in the earth through the roots of
the tree as he climbs, but he is able to reach beyond his
normal life on the earth and reach for a higher plane of
existence.
14. Frost highlights the narrator’s regret that he can how
longer find this peace of mind from swinging on birches.
Because he is an adult, he is unable to leave his
responsibilities behind and climb toward heaven until he
can start fresh on the earth. In fact, the narrator is not
even able to enjoy the imagined view of a boy swinging in
the birches. In the fourth line of the poem, he is forced to
acknowledge the “Truth” of the birches: the bends are
caused by winter storms, not by a boy swinging on them.
15. Significantly, the narrator’s desire to escape from
the rational world is inconclusive. He wants to
escape as a boy climbing toward heaven, but he
also wants to return to the earth: both “going and
coming back.” The freedom of imagination is
appealing and wondrous, but the narrator still
cannot avoid returning to “Truth” and his
responsibilities on the ground; the escape is only a
temporary one. But in a final affirmation, the poet
says that he would not want to leave the earth
“not to return” for “Earth”, he concludes
unequivocally,
“is the right place for love”.
16. TECHNICAL ASPECTS
• The poem consists of 59 lines.
• The poem was written in Blank Verse.
• It doesn’t follow any rhyme scheme.
17. QUESTIONS
A)To what the poet compares the trailing birches ?
B) How does Frost shift from observation to
nostalgic memory in Birches ?
18. QUESTIONS
A)To what the poet compares the trailing birches ?
B) How does Frost shift from observation to
nostalgic memory in Birches ?
