ReneeH

http://voicethread.com/share/966831/

T || · Birches are tall, thin trees. This title makes one expect the poem to be about birch trees. || P  || · The speaker describes a line of bent birch trees, weighed down from an ice storm. However, he prefers to think that it was not an ice storm that bent them, but a boy swinging on them. He imagines a farm boy who lives far from town climbing the trees and then reminisces on his own days of swinging birches. He wishes he was young again and that he could “get away” for a while by climbing trees. However, he recognizes that one can’t escape forever, so birches are the perfect vehicle for escape because they set one down again after one climbs them. || C  || · Blank verse · Strong imagery of the birch trees (“loaded with ice on a sunny winter morning”) · First simile (“like girls on hands and knees…”) introduced at end of the first twenty lines, from this point the language becomes much less literal · Italicization of “//Toward// Heaven” · Climbing up the trees symbolizes escaping the realities of life and embracing imagination · The trees bending over symbolize “Truth.” It is inescapable. || A  || · The speaker regrets that birches no longer offer a complete escape for him. · Casual tone (“you’d think…” “I should prefer...” “ || S  ||  · Although it is one stanza, “Birches” is divided into three twenty line sections.  · Lines 1-20: Physical description of the birches  · Lines 21-40: Description of the imaginary boy swinging the birches  · Lines 41-59: Speaker reflecting on his life and wishing he was young and still a swinger of birches ||  T  ||  · The theme is the contrast between “Truth” and imagination/youthfulness. You can try to get away from reality, but the tree will always bend back down and set you back on Earth. In the end, this is the way it must be, because “Earth’s the right place for love.” ||  T  ||  · The poem is actually more about swinging birches than birches themselves. ||