Abstract
This paper explains how Robert Frost's poem, "Birches," describes the poet's concern about mortality and his desire to go to heaven and come back so that he can continue to swing on the birches.

From the Paper
"In the poem "Birches" by Robert Frost, the poet uses the metaphor of a boy swinging on birch branches to reveal his desire to return to his youth instead of having to leave existence due to his mortality. Frost points out that although boys bend birch trees by swinging on them, it is nature's processes that keep them bent forever. He states; "When I see birches bend to left and right I like to think some boy's been swinging them.".

Tags:Birches, Robert Frost, swinging, life, death, heaven, mortality

Abstract
This paper explains that Robert Frost, who is a part of New England's granite culture, is a nature poet, capable of describing minutely the various moods of the day. Both of these traits are visible in his poem "Birches". The author points out that the symbolism in "Birches" is mostly nature symbolism such as the greatest symbol the birches themselves. The paper relates that another symbol in "Birches" is the ice, which represents trouble and adversity by causing the birch trees to bend even more deeply and for a longer time than when boys bend the birch trees; however, ice is transient and so adversity never remains forever.

From the Paper
"The setting of Frost's "Birches" is also significant for its meaning. As I mentioned at the very beginning of this essay, Frost is the poet of New England. The setting is quite clearly the Northeast or Upper Midwest. The setting is somewhere where there are forests, and, also, where it is cold enough for ice-storms. More important, it is crucial that the setting is a rural one. The birch trees are located away from civilization. In fact, the poet says that ideally the birches should be bent by "Some boy too far from town to learn baseball" (line 25). This would mean the birches, too, are far from town. The country setting corresponds to the poet's desire to climb the birch trees as a temporary escape from the stresses of life."

Tags:granite, nature, ice, bend, transitory

Abstract
This paper discusses the poem, "Birches," by Robert Frost and examines how it embodies the connection between what lives in our minds and our real experiences. The writer explains how life, youth, the expected, the unexpected, and experience itself are represented in "Birches" through symbols. For example, birch branches symbolize life while ice is a symbol of life's ordeals, and walking through a dense forest symbolizes the times when one cannot see where one is headed. In this sense, while the poem appears to be about nature, it is actually more concerned with what is happening in the poet's mind as he looks at the trees. The paper concludes that "Birches" is a positive poem that helps us to relate to each other through symbolism, and that it is typical of Frost in that it gives a glimpse of life through an aspect of nature.

From the Paper
"The winter is a symbol of the cold seasons that life that can sometimes bring us. We all experience times in our lives where we feel like we are in the cold and things will never feel warm again. However, like the birch trees, if we hang on a little while, we will see that there is a reason to hang on and continue to live. Like the birches, we will experience a springtime, a warming where the warm sunshine will make us shed the "crystal shells" (10) of ice that have formed over the winter months. Frost is suggesting that we endure life's winter season and look forward to the melting of the snow and the beauty of spring. In other words, we must stick around long enough to see how the show ends. Life is filled with different seasons and we build character when we endure like the birch trees have endured over the years."

Tags:season, cobweb, transformation, harmony, temporal, ethereal, love

Abstract
An exploration of the metaphors of nature used by Frost to express his thoughts about a loving yet tragic view of life as explained in the poem. The paper shows how the poem is divided into three sections. The writer explains that the first is a very detailed, realistic description of birches in winter, which reveals to us the cruel beauty and power of nature; the second is part fantasy and part boyhood remembrance, where Frost describes what it's like to swing birches in the summer; and the third is a look at the meaning of swinging birches, of life itself, from the perspective of an experienced, saddened, but still vital adult.

From the Paper
"Robert Frost's famous poem, "Birches," might be described as a poem of redemptive realism, a poem that offers a loving, yet tinged-by-the-tragic view of life as seen through the metaphors of nature. In fact, Robert Frost could be called a kind of subversive pastoralist, for unlike the romantic nature poets who preceded him, such as Wordsworth, he sees nature's wildness, her beauty, and yet her relentless harshness as well. The poem, "Birches" is a perfect depiction of the balance we try to achieve between our own will and the will of nature; between joy and sorrow; between heaven and earth; between loving this life and weeping over it. "The desire to withdraw from the world and love of the earth is symbolized in the boy's game of swinging birch trees." (Lynen)."

Tags:life, beauty, rememberance, cruelty, hostile, stanza, poetry

Abstract
This paper concentrates primarily on the imagery of Robert Frost's poems, but also shows how a poetic genius weaves together the various elements of poetry, such as rhythm, rhyme, and symbol, to form an artistic entity. It demonstrates by using his poem "Birches" as an example how, by use of uncomplicated diction, common images and simple rhymes, Frost creates blank verse capable of transmission from the heart and mind of one man to the innermost depths of countless humans far distant in time and place. It looks at how the poem, which centers around a boy swinging on some birches is symbolic of the creative imagination of the poet himself.

From the Paper
"Frost acknowledges that in his New England boyhood he was himself a swinger of birches, a real boy swinging on real trees. He begins with the image that he prefers, of a boy bending the birches, "as he went out and in to fetch the cows." He blames his extended metaphor about the ice storm on "Truth," with a capital T, breaking in "With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm." (Untermeyer 192). This is an example of Frost's humorous playfulness as he turns his images around to suit his point. He prefers a simple natural truth of a boy swinging birches to some intellectual ideal about the "inner dome of heaven." From his natural image he evolves a far reaching philosophical view. The idea of swinging birches, he says, can take a man away from earthly pain and lift him "Toward heaven" (Untermeyer 193). Being a simple earthy swinger of birches offers a more powerful alternative to Frost than being a high flying philosopher."

Tags:rhythm, symbol, verse, imagination

Abstract
This paper provides a discussion of Robert Frost's use of an extended metaphor of a boy swinging on birch branches in "Birches" to argue that the speaker desires to return to his youth because in those days he believed he could conquer anything, even death.

From the Paper
"In his poem, "Birches", Robert Frost employs the extended metaphor of a boy swinging on birch branches to reveal his desire to remain eternally youthful, rather than confront mortality. Frost observes that birch tree branches bend due to little boys swinging on them, but they are resilient to this youthful play like human beings are resilient in youth. The speaker notes, "When I see birches bend to left and right I like to think some boy's been swinging on them". However, like human beings become..."

Tags:heaven, mortality, family, childhood, old age, death, eternity, nature

Abstract
This paper provides a comprehensive outline with thesis, arguments, and evidence for a proposed research paper on the Robert Frost poem "Birches."

From the Paper
"Robert Frost uses the metaphor of a boy swinging on birch branches to reveal his desire to return to his youth instead of having to leave existence due to mortality. Frost uses a boy swinging on them to explain the bent nature of birch trees. Boys swinging on birch trees do bend them but nature's processes keep them bent forever. "When I see birches bend to left and right I like to think some boy's been swinging them.""

Tags:mortality, nature, transcendence, youth, woes

Abstract
Robert Frost's poem, "Birches," makes the point that, at certain times in life, it is good to get back to what was once simple and true, such as when children swing on the branches of trees. This paper provides a brief overview of Robert Lee Frost and examines the author's poem to identify the literary elements used, followed by an analysis of the poem itself. A summary of the research is provided in the conclusion.

From the Paper
"Robert Lee Frost was an American poet who was greatly admired for his portrayals of the rural life of New England, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations (Gerber 3). Many observers, though, believe Frost overemphasized the darker aspects of New England life; however, Frost's later flood of more uniformly optimistic verses made that view appear misplaced. Over time, many people came to regard the dramatic poems set in North of Boston as the most authentic and powerful of their kind ever produced by an American, a view that has only been subsequently reinforced by later opinions."

Tags:sentimentality, tree, verse

Abstract
This paper explains how Frost uses symbolism, metaphor and imagery in both these poems to address the idea of one's death. Examples from both poems are used in the paper to illustrate Frost's technique.

From the Paper
"In "After Apple Picking," Frost's narrator professes to be descending from a hard day picking apples. However, that he speaks more of metaphorical than of literal work is evident in his choice of words, such as referring to his ladder as leading "Toward heaven still..." The mythical impact of his story is heightened by using biblical imagery through-out the poem, both in the reference to the ladder to heaven, and when he speaks of the "the great harvest" (a biblical term for the final judgment). Another such reference is " looking through a pane of glass," which is a direct paraphrase of the Pauline/platonic idea that in life we see through glass dimly, but after death we will see clearly. That he has broken the pane through which he sees the world indicates his death. The Shakespearan reference (from Hamlet) as to what dreams will come to trouble his sleep also indicates that the narrator faces death, which is above all a "long sleep." Yet he does not speak directly of death, but hides its presence within the extended metaphor of retiring from apple-picking."

Tags:every-day, experiences, final, end, narrator, long, sleep, tree, life, bent, prostrates

Abstract
An analysis of three of Robert Frost's most well-known poems. Part II discusses the symbolism in "After Apple Picking," "Birches," and "The Road Not Taken." Lastly, this paper concludes with remarks concerning the long-term impact of Frost's poems.

From the Paper
"Robert Frost is one of the most well-known yet least understood American poets. Like Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David Thoreau, and numerous other well-renowned poets, Frost had an uncanny ability to write about the interaction and relationship between individuals and nature in a remarkably simple yet eloquent manner. In many of Frost's poems, he recognizes the beauty of nature, but is also puzzled and sometimes troubled by its continuous change. What is particularly brilliant about Frost's poems is that they are written in such a way that it is not possible to determine a universal meaning."

Tags:frost, poem, symbol, symbolism, meaning, nature