Birches

“Birches” begins in the colloquial, blank verse voice common to Frost’s poetry. Establishing his speaker (who could be read as Frost himself) as meditative and reflective, Frost creates the driving metaphor of the poem, painting a clear, natural image of birch trees contextualized against different natural flora: “When I see birches bend to left and right / Across the lines of straighter darker trees, / I like to think some boy’s been swinging them” (Lines 1-3). The blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter of these lines, creates a rhythmic sense of a natural voice, creating an intimacy and natural connection with the speaker. In these first lines, the reader understands the meditative and nostalgic direction of the poem, as Frost sets up his speaker’s mental state as someone fondly imagining a childhood activity.

The speaker notes that these birches, while prompting the memory or suggestion of a boy swinging them, are likely bent by another, natural force. In contrast to the human activity, an ice-storm must have caused their shape. The speaker addresses the reader, saying “Often you must have seen them / Loaded with ice on a sunny winter morning / After a rain” (Lines 5-7).