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The Theme of Life and Death in Birches, by Robert Frost Essay

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The Theme of Life and Death in Birches, by Robert Frost

The poem "Birches," by Robert Frost, illustrates the authors ability to take what seems to be the mundane activities of life and turn it into something that holds a deeper meaning. The poem taken literally revolves around a boy living on the New England countryside "whose only play was what he found himself," in this case, riding birch branches. The poem is very literal in language but by analyzing each line, different themes and interpretations may be found. A more deeper and figurative meaning to "Birches" is its theme of life and death.

The poem begins with a description of the adventures of a young boy. The first half of "Birches" portrays the youthful …show more content…

Life is not meant for the meek, because life waits for no one.

In accordance with life themes, another one mentioned is that people always wish for what they can't have. In this case, the narrator wishes that he could go back into time, "So was I once myself a swinger of birchesAnd so I dream of going back to be." However, that is not the full meaning of those lines. In the next line after, Frost writes, "It's when I'm weary of considerationsAnd life is too much like a pathless wood." The narrator is stating that he wishes to go back when the world turns to chaos. When nothing goes right, he wants to escape into his dream world of the past. This is a parallel characteristic of people even today. Along the same lines of themes, another one is that people always want a "do-over." This is stated when the narrator says, "I'd like to get away from earth awhileAnd then come back to it and begin over." He does not reject earth because in the next line, he says, "Earth's the right place for loveI don't know where it's likely to go better."

In the final part of the poem, Frost writes, "I'd like to go by climbing a birch treeAnd climb black branches up a snow-white trunkToward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,But dipped its top and set me down againThat would be good

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