Daniel Im

IB Lang 12

Moosman 4

Birches Analysis

Summary: The poem starts with the speaker noting about birch trees being bent. The

speaker would like to imagine that these permanent bents were just from some boy’s playing on

them but came to the realization that that isn’t what causes them to be bent. It is the ice storms

that cause these trees to slouch. The speaker mentions that many people, including us, has seen

the trees covered in ice in the morning. Soon, the sun’s heat will come and melt the ice causing

them to fall and shatter. This process is what weighs down the trees and causes them to be

permanently bent. This also happens to the branches of the tree which causes the branches to

hang down like hair. The speaker then returns to talk about the idea of the boy playing on the

tree. This thought is important to the speaker because of how it reminds them about their

childhood. The times of playing on trees similar to this and causing them to all droop. It

eventually led to all trees being affected by him. This was a joyous time of their life due to how

this was a big part of the speaker’s life, thus causing them to fantasize about swinging from the

trees once again. However, life is too unpredictable thus having no real clear path through it. Life

will always be hard to get through and will encounter bumps in the path of life. The speaker then

continues and says that it would be able to escape the earth and return with a new beginning. The

speaker believes that Earth is the only place love and other enjoyable things can be experienced.

Thus believes that the best way to die is to climb up a birch tree and when at the very top, let it

bend down and return the person back to Earth. This is the vision the speaker thinks of where

one can feel like they are escaping from the Earth as well as being able to return back. The poem
then ends with Frost saying that there can be worth then being a person who swings and “plays”

on these trees.

Analysis: This poem is mostly about the idea of childhood and the past. The feeling of joy and

wonder in life. Like stated in the summary, the poem’s reference to the birch tree is the speaker

seeing these trees in the winter being worn down on. It makes the trees droop and thus reminds

the speaker about the good old days of childhood. Children are able to create such imaginative

thoughts and take much of their surroundings and be able to make something enjoyable out of it.

Childhood seems to be a big part of this poem. However, there are also references to adulthood

due to the last parts of the poem. There are claims about how the speaker would like to go back o

their childhood and relive these memories. However, that's not possible and one can only wish.

The ability to leave earth without real consequences would be very nice due to the fact that life

can be full of stress, repetition, and just overall boring. It is basically like a life worth more than

death. This can be interpreted when the speaker embraces death, expressing a will, to some

degree, to leave this life behind and move to another or have a redo of life. Much metaphor and

imagery, and a combination of both, is used to escape this idea. Examples are near the end where

Frost starts to describe climbing up a tree and going “above the brim” of the tree, leaping off.

Another metaphorical idea is the tree. I feel this tree is being compared to the boundaries of life.

The author mentions that leaping off the tree’s tip is like achieving what they want, a feeling of

escape from reality. However, to do this, the tree must be fully climbed and thus makes it a

barrier and challenge to achieve this. If one was able to climb this tree and go beyond, they they

have achieved this goal and Idea. However, it is hard, especially with how the tree is flimsy and

easy to bend, thus bringing the person back down to earth. In away, there is no real escape of
reality but rather just a feeling that can be obtained for a short period of time but eventually will

be brought back down to reality.