Imagery And Symbolism In Robert Frost's Birches

Brianna Brennan

AP English 12

Mrs. Corby

18 February 2018

Imagery and Symbolism in Robert Frost’s “Birches”

In the poem “Birches”, Robert Frost brings his readers into a profound relationship with the natural world around them. “Birches” takes the image of a birch tree whose branches have been worn from winter and transform into a deeper meaning of escaping reality, using the branches to swing freely to “get away from earth awhile” (line 48). The poem uses nature, specifically birch trees, to convey its meaning. Through his use of imagery and symbolism, Frost presents the act of swinging on birches as a way to escape the struggles of everyday life.

The first image is of the speaker saying “When I see birches bend to left and right/ Across the lines of

The boy climbed them until he “took the stiffness out of them” (line 30) and did not leave a tree unconquered. The branches never weaken or snap; they stay strong through all of the play they were put through. Birches symbolize a place that the boy can go where no one will interrupt his imagination and cheerful spirit. The speaker claims that he once a “swinger of birches” (line 41) himself, and dreams of going back to being able to be one when he is “weary of considerations, /And life is too much like a pathless wood” (line 43, 44). These lines further exaggerate the symbolism of escaping reality that the birches have. Lines 45-47 help illustrate how harsh the reality of every day life can be: “Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs/ Broken across it, and one eye is weeping/ From a twig’s having lashed across it open”. The speaker’s pain can almost be felt though this imagery. When life seems to become too much it feels like it is figuratively tearing you apart, as depicted by Frost. As the speaker reminisces childhood and leaving adult responsibilities behind, the realization that earth is the place to be is