The Theme of Life and Death in Birches, by Robert Frost
The poem "Birches," by Robert Frost, illustrates the authors ability to take what seems to be the mundane activities of life and turn it into something that holds a deeper meaning. The poem taken literally revolves around a boy living on the New England countryside "whose only play was what he found himself," in this case, riding birch branches. The poem is very literal in language but by analyzing each line, different themes and interpretations may be found. A more deeper and figurative meaning to "Birches" is its theme of life and death.
The poem begins with a description of the adventures of a young boy. The first half of "Birches" portrays the youthful
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Life is not meant for the meek, because life waits for no one.
In accordance with life themes, another one mentioned is that people always wish for what they can't have. In this case, the narrator wishes that he could go back into time, "So was I once myself a swinger of birchesAnd so I dream of going back to be." However, that is not the full meaning of those lines. In the next line after, Frost writes, "It's when I'm weary of considerationsAnd life is too much like a pathless wood." The narrator is stating that he wishes to go back when the world turns to chaos. When nothing goes right, he wants to escape into his dream world of the past. This is a parallel characteristic of people even today. Along the same lines of themes, another one is that people always want a "do-over." This is stated when the narrator says, "I'd like to get away from earth awhileAnd then come back to it and begin over." He does not reject earth because in the next line, he says, "Earth's the right place for loveI don't know where it's likely to go better."
In the final part of the poem, Frost writes, "I'd like to go by climbing a birch treeAnd climb black branches up a snow-white trunkToward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,But dipped its top and set me down againThat would be good
focuses of second half of the poem is concentrated on accident that takes place in which a boy
Frost has a compelling way of writing the poem, in the beginnings of the poem there is a lot of metaphors and descriptions of the setting and the saw and the boy. Once the boy is injured
In a poem known as Birches, Frost portrays an older man dreaming for a better life. He starts off with having this older man make his connection between realism and fantasy, setting the overall mood for this poem. The connection he makes is that he sees these trees have limbs that are bowed over and how that makes him think that a young boy has been swinging from those limbs. Although, he knows in reality that swinging will not cause that type of bend in a tree, but yet ice-storms do because of the build up from snow and ice on each limb. Frost then goes into detail about the surrounding area to create an image in the reader’s head, to set a scene, and to show how appreciative he is for the beauty of his surroundings. After the scene is set, he goes back into realism stating the real reason for the bending of the trees, which can have the reader make an insinuation that even with all the hardships faced in life, they have yet to give up, that they are still standing strong. Frost then has the old man shift back into fantasy where the old man states that he’d rather the trees have been bent from a little boys swinging amongst them. For he once was a swinger of trees and when the hardships of life become too much for he that he wishes to return to such. Frost also incorporate the use of religion in this particular poem, by having the old man state that he want to get away from earth for a while and then return to begin all over.
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a very well know poem by Robert Frost. The poem appears to be very simple, but it has a hidden meaning to it. The simple words and rhyme scheme of the poem gives it an easy flow, which adds to the calmness of the poem. The rhyme scheme (aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd) and the rhythm (iambic tetrameter) give the poem a solid structure. The poem is about the speaker’s experience of stopping by the dark woods in the winter evening with his horse and admiring the beauty of the fresh fallen snow in the forest. Then, the speaker projects himself into the mind of his horse, speculating about his horse’s practical concerns and the horse
Frost describes the little boy's work in the first two lines by saying the 'stove-length sticks of wood,' inferring the practical nature of his work. The mountains described in the next lines further add to the captive nature of the poem. Vermont provides a
Frost also uses the trees in this poem to represent a way to get away from the cares and trials of life on Earth. He talks of getting away and coming back to start over as if climbing “towards heaven”. He desires to be free from it all, but then he says that he is afraid that the fates might misunderstand and take him away to never return. This is like most of us today. We want to go to Heaven, but we don’t want to die to get there.
Discovering more of Frost's past life, it's no surprise that most of his poems revolve around the five stages of grief and loss. In understanding the process of grief , the poem "The Road Not Taken" seems to implement the stage of acceptance. In the first stanza, we are approached with two decisions "in a yellow wood", yellow meaning intellect, energy and wisdom . While Wood meaning tree, implying growth or a rapid increase in something. Tree's usually turn yellow in the fall, the season fall meaning death or dying, typically referring to a tragedy. Already knowing a positive decision will be made based on a rapid increase in death, we then turn to the next turning point "Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for the passing there had worn them about the same...".
The Use of Literary Devices in Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
In this poem, I believe the theme is that you have to jump at an opportunity when you get it, or you may never get that opportunity again. Moving on to the tone of the poem, I believe that it is wistful, and that the speaker might be looking back on his days, and realizing that he taking the other road might have made all of the difference in his life. There is very good diction in this poem, as some words express Frost’s feeling more than other’s would’ve. For example, in the line “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” (1), Frost really emphasizes the two roads separating from each other. In another line “In leaves no step had trodden black” (12), trodden is a more appropriate than another word such as crushed or pulverized, because it is the past form of trod, or to step in something, and gives an image of human feet stepping on the freshly fallen leaves.
In the poem, Frost is the narrator and he is speaking to the readers. The issue that Frost discusses is if the world will end in a blazing fire or in freezing ice. Based on the poem, Frost believes he would perish by fire because in verses 3 and 4 he wrote: From what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire. But in verses 5, 6, 7, and 8 Frost wrote: But if it had to perish twice, I think I know
On the surface, the poem "Birches" by Robert Frost is simply about a man who would like to believe that birch trees are bent from young boys swinging on them, despite the evidence that it is merely a result of the ice-storms. Even with this knowledge he prefers the idea of the boys swinging from the trees because he was a birch swinger years ago and continuously dreams of returning and experiencing those pleasant memories once again. From a more explored and analytical point of view, the birch trees symbolize life and serves as the speaker 's temporary channel of escape from the world and its harsh realities. The speaker uses his imagination to return to his innocent childhood. He hopes to relieve stress and prepare to face life and
Frost?s poem delves deeper into the being and essence of life with his second set of lines. The first line states, ?Her early leaf?s a flower.? After the budding and sprouting, which is the birth of nature, is growth into a flower. This is the moment where noon turns to evening, where childhood turns into maturity, and where spring turns into summer. At this very moment is the ripe and prime age of things. The young flower stands straight up and basks in the sun, the now mature teenager runs playfully in the light, and the day and sunlight peak before descending ever so quickly into dusk. The second line of the second set states, ?But only so an hour,? which makes clear that yet again time is passing by and that a beginning will inevitably have an end.
Frost’s poem has a great sense of irony towards the end, “I shall be telling this with a sigh / somewhere ages and ages hence” (16-17). The irony is that while he’s making his choice he is already anticipating how he will tell the story in the future, almost adding a sense of drama
The speakers saying, “And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth” makes us the reader to believe that he isn’t just speaking of a different path in the woods but a choice that can have unforeseen consequences for his future. Frost uses a rhyme scheme of ABAAB which helped with the flow of the poem. The simple rhyme scheme made the poem pleasant and easily understandable. Frost also implores several literary devices throughout the poem.
This poem never had a chance to be published during Frost's life. The poem is pretty self-explanatory. To me it is obvious that it is written while he is in England. The mention of rain and watery breezes give it away because England is surrounded by water. I believe that Frost knew that he could make his career work in England. The line "The watery breeze came fresher now From over the hill to remind me" makes me think that England would give him new inspiration. Everything he did in