Ice Storm Metaphors

To begin with, Robert Frost manipulates the image of an ice storm in order to convey the man’s need to escape reality. For example, the damaged trees from the ice storm are portrayed as bent “down to stay” (Frost 4). The narrator believes it would be better to swing among the birch trees as a young boy would and bend them to an arched shape. Than acknowledging that the harsh ice storm has bent the trees. The trees are also described as “arched” and “on hands and knees” to get as much light as they could (17-19). Both of these connections in the poem first section are to the trees being withered down people in their everyday lives with common dilemmas and misfortunes, which is referred to as the snow and ice storms in the poem. The narrator continues with more personal feelings, such as how they remembered when they were a child.

As well as, remembering that he and other boys would do it “over and over” to feel free of their problems and have fun (29). He laments his sorrow about being a birch tree bender and announces that like everything else it ends with the, “pains you use to fill a cup” or in other words, the pain everyone dislikes (37). The narrator finishes this lament by stating that they like to remember those days and it would be a nice escape from reality once in a while. To a time where everything was far simpler similar to how it was a child, however he is hesitant to do so. Since there’s a risk of not coming back and he’s not sure if that is a risk worth taking. His words were, “ I dream of going back to be./ It’s when I’m weary of considerations,” (42-43). He later moved on into the afterlife and his way of passing on was by “climbing a birch tree,” (54). His final words being, “ One Can do worse than being a swinger of birches” which translates to his pleasures he found playing during his lifetime that made it worthwhile