Analysis of Birches by Robert Frost

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Joey Hollis Prof. Plett Comp 1 10/29/14 Birches Birches is one of Robert Frost’s more meaningful poems. He writes a very eloquent blank verse poem containing much more meaning than me can derive from just one read through. Birches main focus is truth and reality. The swinging branches of the birches is one of the more important motifs we see in this poem. These branches show the swinging between what is true and what false or just wishful thinking. The poem’s main focus is on truth and imagination but a reasonable explanation for the hidden motive of the speaker is Love We can also assume this reflects a lot on the desires and goals of the speaker. The boy we can assume is the speaker. He talks very nostalgically about the boy and what he’s feeling as he swings. He later writes that he once was swinging on the branches and desires to get back to that point. “So was I once myself a swinger of birches.” (Birches, Frost) The speaker has a fascination with the birch trees and has created his own truths about them. He knows that they are bent due to the ice, but instead prefers to think of them as being bent from boys swinging on them. He starts the poem off with describing the branches in a factual manner then he fades to imagination and nostalgia when talking about the boy and by the end he admits all he has said is wishful thinking although he still stands by the merit of “swinging” The whole poem is told through metaphors and symbols, we can even see that it’s told in a swinging type of motion. We see the main conflict is between reality and imagination. The author prefers being up in the air on the birches because he is in imagination and can ignore life’s obligations and hard truths. The “birches” are a tether in which the speaker and the boy are able to hold onto and swing above truth. They desire to swing above the “harsh
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