Birches by Robert Frost
Just a few things to think about for tomorrow's discussion:
1. I think there is a connection between the young boy and the birches. In the opening lines the birch is separate from the other straighter trees. The boy is also isolated from others not playing baseball, etc.
2. I read this poem in two parts. One in reality with the storm and the other part in his imaginary situation with the boy. While by different means, the end result for the birches was the same, so i wonder why Frost preferred the boy bending the tree and not nature.
3. I LOVED the illustrates the boy in the poem. Here is a young boy with an entire forest to enjoy, ruin, or whatever, but he instead takes care in bending the birches. Frost says he conquers (not destroys the tree making him a more civilized)
- Carolyn Junior
1. I think there is a connection between the young boy and the birches. In the opening lines the birch is separate from the other straighter trees. The boy is also isolated from others not playing baseball, etc.
2. I read this poem in two parts. One in reality with the storm and the other part in his imaginary situation with the boy. While by different means, the end result for the birches was the same, so i wonder why Frost preferred the boy bending the tree and not nature.
3. I LOVED the illustrates the boy in the poem. Here is a young boy with an entire forest to enjoy, ruin, or whatever, but he instead takes care in bending the birches. Frost says he conquers (not destroys the tree making him a more civilized)
- Carolyn Junior
Labels: Birches, Robert Frost
posted by L Lazarow | 4:53 PM
4 Comments:
Another thing that I noticed was Frost's use of "Truth" with a capital T. This goes back to previous conversations, though I don't think Frost is using it as an ultimate Truth, but rather personifying it. It is also interesting that he makes Truth female, saying she is matter of fact. It also says Truth "broke in" implying that "she" was impeding on him and his solitude, which is a theme that is played with in many descriptions of male-female relationships, that the female breaks into a man's peace and solitude.
Somethings I noticed:
I thought it was interesting that the boy had succeeded in conquering every birch in the forest, he had mastered how to bend each of them. I think this is a metaphor for maturing and understanding how to navigate through life. It almost seemed as if Frost had succeeded in mastering how to navigate, and had lost some of the enjoyment in his life, which is why he might want to go "start over".
Also, I thought the birches might be the perfect middle ground. On the one hand, he says earth is where love is , implying that the real world is good for something. but on the other hand, heaven really has everything else. Climbing the birches is a way to go towards heaven, but also stay in the real world to get what is needed out of life on earth.
-kate p
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Did anyone else get the sense of the desire of the narrator to return to childhood when life was more simple?
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