Birches. Collection – Mountain Interval. 1920.WHEN I see birches bend to left and right Birches was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in August 1915. It was later included in the volume Mountain Interval. Reflection, memories, nostalgia and thoughts make up this superbly philosophical poem. Like Mowing, this poem too ‘begins in delight and ends in wisdom’. At a primary level, Birches is a pastoral poem studded with beautiful images of country life. At a higher level, it divulges a profound philosophy about life. Birches are a common sight in New England. Of the sixty-line poem – the first forty four lines can be read like a brilliant description of a boy’s play. ‘A boy too far from town to play baseball’ has mastered the art of swinging on the birches. The graphic description of swinging on the birches arouses heartfelt joy in the activity and added to it is the poet’s own nostalgia of his boyhood days. Poem of contrastsIt’s a poem of contrasts, like life itself – a world within us and one outside, earth and heaven, escape and responsibility, control and abandon. We are constantly seeking balance, grappling with contradictions. The contrast in the poem begins in the first line. Pale, swinging birches as against ‘straighter’, ‘darker’ trees. It’s a ‘sunny winter morning’, there is ice and there is sunlight. There is conflict also in mind. RF longs to stay poetical (Now am I free to be poetical?) and flow with imagination. Twice, he repeats, I like to think some boy’s been swinging them. and I should prefer to have some boy bend them. But almost like an intruder, truth dawns: …Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice storm. Further, when tired of life’s ‘consideration’ he longs to escape but not for long. I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over. For, he says, … Earth’s the right place for love:
I don’t know where it’s likely to go better. The point he’s making here is that we may seek escape from life’s responsibilities but only temporarily. We have to come back to it all – the love for life which inspires ‘duty’. Much like his famous poem Stopping by Wood on a Snowy Evening where says, The woods are lovely, dark and deep. He knows that escape is momentary. In A Servant to Servants (North of Boston. 1915) he says: …the best way out is always through. ImageryTwo beautiful images that are often quoted occur in this poem, one, of the birch branches, Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. 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.
And that of arching tree-trunks, like girls drying their hair: trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun. Philosophical thoughtsA joyous boyhood activity gradually draws him into philosophical thoughts. It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig’s having lashed across it open. I’d like to get away from earth awhile
When the going gets too tough, like a swinger of birches, he dreams of escaping from the earth to heaven. But only for a while, he’s quick to add. A strong believer in the goodness of all things in life, he clarifies, I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate willfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return.
For, Earth’s the right place for love:
I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.
The poem reminds me of William Wordsworth’s, To The Skylark, Type of the wise, who sore, but never roam—
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!
The climbing also suggests the value of learning and experience. … He learned all there was
To learn…
Climbing or rising above the ground also signifies rising above the banal. ‘Toward Heaven’ also suggests longing for spirituality. The poem ends with his supreme belief in living an enlightened but practical life. To attain spirituality through hard work, learning, experience and expertise; and then continue to live life in the light of that consciousness. Oft-quoted linesAnd life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig’s having lashed across it open. I’d like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. Earth’s the right place for love:
I don’t know where it’s likely to go better. Word meaningsCrazes – In ceramics – fine cracks in the glaze of pottery |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |