Transcending Adulthood

Meghan Poole

English 210

Dr. Weiland

6 April 2017

Transcending Adulthood

There comes a time in an individual’s life when the troubles and hardships that one continues to face as they grow up become daunting enough that they wish to regress – to go back to the days of being a carefree child again. “Birches” is a complicated poem portraying emotions pertaining to life as a whole. The birch tree itself is known to have spiritual significance in several cultures – symbolizing growth and renewal. A highly adaptive breed, a birch tree is able to sustain and grow in harsh conditions with indifference. Swinging on birch trees was a common pastime for American children back in the nineteenth century, thus Robert Frost was once quoted saying, “it was

Frost uses birch trees to symbolize adolescence, adulthood, and the contrast of imagination versus reality. In addition, Frost takes the symbol one step further by opposing darker birch trees with lighter bark to respectively represent the contrast of adulthood and adolescence. Frost writes, “Across the line of straighter darker trees / I like to think some boy’s been swinging them / but swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay,” (2-4). The images of adolescence transforming into adulthood is illustrated through the aging of birch trees. Proof of the adaptability of the birch tree, the author illustrates that solely swinging on the branches is not enough to bend them – situations as an individual grows up do. Frost uses the example of a non-existent child to illustrate his longing desire to return to childhood, but his inherent need to carry on with his adult

Frost writes, “So was I once myself a swinger of birches / and so I dream of going back to be,” (41-42). Telling the reader that he once was a carefree child and yearns to return to those glory days once again, Frost also explain that this feeling doesn’t consume him all of the time, rather “when [he’s] weary of considerations / and life is too much like a pathless wood / where your face burns and tickles with cobwebs / broken across it, and one eye is weeping / from a twig’s having lashed across it open,” (43-47). The “pathless wood” discusses how life can at times lack amusement and joy as one continues to face hardships in life that seem unconquerable. Although Frost comes across this feeling when life is full of hardships and times in which he finds himself yearning to go to the easy days of being a child, it is not something he struggles with