Annotated Birches Poetry Analysis

1. The tension between the beauty of imagination and the inescapability of reality is a common theme in American poetry. Many poets and writers, for example, contrast the power of imagination as a way to overcome the harsh realities of the material world with the need to understand things as they really are.

2. At a time when the tendency of many poets to abandon traditional poetic conventions alienated common readers, Frost's more traditional poetry was received warmly by many readers. 'Birches,' both in content and form, demonstrates just how approachable Frost's work can be and how his poetry deals with some of the central themes of American literature. 3. The whole upward thrust of the poem is toward imagination, escape, and transcendence—and away from heavy Truth with a capital T. The downward pull is back to earth. Likely everyone understands the desire

And that is why the birch tree is the perfect vehicle. As a tree, it is rooted in the ground; in climbing it, one has not completely severed ties to the earth. Moreover, as the final leap back down takes skill, experience, and courage, it is not a mere retreat but a new trajectory. Thus, one’s path up and down the birch is one that is “good both going and coming back.” The “Truth” of the ice storm does not interfere for long; for the poet looks at bent trees and imagines another truth: nothing less than a recipe for how to live well.

'Birches' is loosely written in blank verse, meaning unrhymed lines consisting of five lambs in each line. Iambs are metrical feet that have two syllables, with one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable, as in 'belong' or 'along' or 'away.' The poem begins with the speaker explaining that whenever he sees a birch tree that has been bent down, he likes to think that it was caused by a child swinging in the tree. However, the speaker notes that birches are actually bent by ice storms that weigh a tree down and cause them to remain bent for the rest of their