Birches Group at eNotes

I think it definitely applies. :) To 'begin in delight' and 'end in...

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 02:37:05 PST

I think it definitely applies. :) To 'begin in delight' and 'end in wisdom' need not be restricted to the flow of the poem, nor the creative process of the author, although both of these may fit. In most poems, Birches included, I think these apply more to the experience of the reader. The delight felt by the reader may be amazement at the way the poem skillfully paints a picture or elicits emotion, or even just the way it manipulates language...

In the poem "Birches", Robert Frost describes a pastime he used to enjoy...

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:25:12 PST

In the poem "Birches", Robert Frost describes a pastime he used to enjoy as a young boy. He liked to climb high up in the birch trees, then, at just the right point, swing himself over so that the tree would bend, bringing him back safely to the ground. It required a certain amount of skill to do that just right; he would have to climb "carefully with the same pains you use to fill a cup up to the brim, and even above the brim". Timing...

In "Birches", what does the speaker mean when he comments that he hopes...

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:02:59 PST

In "Birches", what does the speaker mean when he comments that he hopes that fate will not "half grant" what he wishes?

quail, "Birches" by Robert Frost is more than a nostalgic picture of...

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:57:47 PST

quail, "Birches" by Robert Frost is more than a nostalgic picture of boyhood play. From line 43 on, the poem develops a flamboyant metaphor. The poem’s theme can be: “While there are times when the speaker [of “Birches”] would ‘like to get away from earth awhile,’ his aspiration for escape to something ‘larger’ is safely controlled by the recognition that birch trees will only bear so much climbing before returning you, under...

What is the summary and main theme of "Birches" by Robert Frost?

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:43:17 PST

What is the summary and main theme of "Birches" by Robert Frost?

Another question: Why do kids climb trees in the first place? Answer:...

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:15:21 PST

Another question: Why do kids climb trees in the first place? Answer: Just for the fun of it! As an ex tree-climber (and I still do sometimes, when nobody is looking....), for me the main point Frost is trying to get across is the importance of pursuing one's own aspirations, no matter how insignificant and futile they may seem to others. For life to have meaning, a person must set his own goals then do his best to achieve them and not get...

"Birches" is a very complex poem subject to many interpretations. It is...

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:35:57 PST

"Birches" is a very complex poem subject to many interpretations. It is characterized by antitheses, including imagination/reality and youth/adulthood. In surveying birch trees that have been bent to the ground, the narrator likes to imagine that they were ridden down by a boy at play. He knows, however, that in reality they were brought to the ground by an ice storm. Having acknowledged this truth, he returns to his imaginary boy and takes...

In Robert Frost's "Birches," how is climbing birches a metaphor for life?

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:44:15 PST

In Robert Frost's "Birches," how is climbing birches a metaphor for life?

What an interesting question! Frost himself was hardly poor. By the...

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:45:42 PST

What an interesting question! Frost himself was hardly poor. By the time of the publication of "The Road Not Taken" Frost was already well-known and successful. Yet, at his heart, he was a yeoman farmer, committed to the land and distrustful of success and celebrity. The lines in the poem echo this dualism of sentiment: And be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the...

Socio-cultural Motives in Frost?

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:18:33 PST

I know he is from New England, so any help will be useful to help me understand the poem "The Road Not Taken" and others when taking into account his place of bith.

"The Road Not Taken" was written in the post-WWI year of 1920,...

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 20:51:38 PST

"The Road Not Taken" was written in the post-WWI year of 1920, so the idea of choices (and consequences) were very much at the forefront of people's minds...much as they are now. This would mean that there are most definitely socio-cultural considerations at work. The most significant stanza in the poem, in my opinion, speaks to the idea that certain choices are one way roads, so to speak. The speaker in the poem knows that by...

In "The road not taken", is there any socio-cultural aspect...

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 14:58:43 PST

In "The road not taken", is there any socio-cultural aspect that must be taken into consideration?

The central device used in this poem is metaphor. The diverging paths...

Sun, 4 Nov 2007 20:52:56 PST

The central device used in this poem is metaphor. The diverging paths in the woods are used as a metaphor for choices in life. Does the speaker take a life path that follows an easy path, or does the speaker take a risk by carving his own path?

In "The Road Not Taken", which rhetorical devices does...

Sun, 4 Nov 2007 20:30:16 PST

In "The Road Not Taken", which rhetorical devices does Frost use to show the main theme?

An interesting question. Frost chose more than one old-fashioned way to...

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:03:00 PST

An interesting question. Frost chose more than one old-fashioned way to be new. The simplest way is that he used traditional poetic structures to address modern concerns. This can be seen in " Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Another old-fashioned way to be new is the accent or emphasis on nature, in a near pastoral. This can be seen in "Birches." A third old-fashioned way to be new is the use of the unified narrator—the "I" in "...

Well, I have always taken this line to describe his composition process,...

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:34:08 PST

Well, I have always taken this line to describe his composition process, so sure, I'd say it applies to "Birches." He took an initial spark of wonder and reworked it into something meaningful. That's a kind of wisdom. Now, does it apply for the reader? Only moderately, because, to be frank, I find only moderate wisdom in the poem, and because the poem's delight is not located only at the beginning, but rather throughout the poem. The poem's...

Frost said that a poem "begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Do you...

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:27:09 PST

Frost said that a poem "begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Do you agree or disagree that this applies to "Birches"?

1. How does Frost use the “Old fashioned way to be new”? Choose at...

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:56:35 PST

1. How does Frost use the “Old fashioned way to be new”? Choose at least three of his poems (other than “Home Burial” and explain how they illustrate the fact that he chose the “old fashioned way to be new.”