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Nature’s transcendental quality is described in Robert Frost’s poem “Birches”. The speaker of the poem is an older man, who recalls the memory of being a “swinger of birches”. The overwhelming aspects of his life cause him to yearn for the trouble-free and undemanding times of childhood. Although the poem is written from the speaker’s viewpoint, the perspective of a specific boy is introduced. These two outlooks offer contrasting perceptions of what the birch tree and act of climbing and swinging represent. The poem plays into memory, reality, imagination, escape, and transcendence. The denoted content is 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. The connoted content deals with the speaker’s view of nature and his personal connection to the birch tree, as well as, his ability to retreat to the innocence of childhood through imagination. The imagery of the ice storm, symbolism of the bent birch tree, and the perspectives of the boy and speaker, heighten one central theme: when one is in nature, they are able to learn life lessons, use their imagination, and transcend away from Earth.
Frost’s imagery of the ice storm shows one destructive effect of nature. Once the storm has ceased, all of the birch trees are covered in ice. The speaker envisions the layers of ice as an “enamel-like”, protective layer covering the birches. However, the beauty and “sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells” (line 10). By poetically describing the
trees with the terms “enamel” and “crystal“, the image of lustrous, glistening trees is evoked. Once the shells fall down, he states, “You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen” (line 13). By connecting the tree to heaven, its transcendental quality is rendered. Through vivid imagery and the speaker’s imagination, one aspect of the central theme is heightened: when surrounded by nature, once can...