Poetry, Part 2

Birches by Robert Frost, page 288, poem #288.

The most prominent literary device which is evident throughout the poem as used to enrich the theme and tone is imagery.  This poem incorporates descriptions of certain details in order to create the image of the birch trees, and to enhance their symbolism in the piece. Several particularly vivid lines describe the birch trees as follows: "Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells/ Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust--/ Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away/ You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen."  Later, the same birch trees are described in the following manner, "...climb black branches up a snow white trunk/ Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,/ But dipped its top and set me down again."  The author selects these certain details in order to convey the beauty of the birch tree and its role in the poem.  This imagery is also significant as the description of the same tree changes as the poem progresses, from a tree with branches bent from ice storms and from the children who swung from the branches, to a means of reaching up towards heaven and then bending back to earth again.  The tree is symbolic of the beauty found in the simple blessings of life,and the way that aging affects a person's view of such things. This tree is an endless source of entertainment for young children, and is a simple reason to enjoy what time he has left on earth for an elderly man, while for a middle-aged person, it might just be a mundane tree.

Another literary device found in this poem is personification.  The idea of truth is personified in this piece in order to show a contrast between a dull reality and a brighter, more romanticized and idealistic view of things.  In the poem, Frost states, "But I was going to say when Truth broke in/ With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm/ I should prefer to have some boy bend them/ As he went out and in to fetch the cows-." In these lines, the idea of Truth is given a human personality and is portrayed as interrupting a beautiful daydream to interject the harsh and unpoetic reality.  The narrator of this poem sees the birch trees and associates them with fond memories of his childhood, playing in fields and orchards, the trees worn and bent now, much as he is, from the passing of time and the many other children who have played amongst the trees.  Truth shatters his recollection to say that it was probably just an ice storm.  Giving the idea of truth a personality is used to show the contrast between Truth, who bluntly tells the reality of the situation, and a sentimental old man.

I enjoyed this poem because of the way it created a mental image for me of the birch trees and the carefree days that are described.  I also liked the way the birch tree was used throughout the poem as a constant image, while the story around it shifted.  This poem not only included a description and a central message, as most poems do, but also told a story and had a conclusion, unlike some other poems.  I appreciated the way the author was able to take a simple object in nature- a birch tree- and give it so much symbolic significance, and create a story around this image.  My favorite part of the poem was the last few lines, which I felt were not only very well-worded, but also very insightful and true.  "Earth's the right place for love:/ I don't know where it's likely to go better."  I liked the way the ending of this poem tied up all the loose ends, offered a moral of sorts, and ended "happily ever after."