Birches by Robert Frost, Essay Example

Relationship of Man and Nature in Birches by Robert Frost

‘Birches’ is one of the poems written by Robert Frost in the early 20^th century. Referring to Frost’s early poems sometimes seems challenging due to their nature the thematic intentions by the poet when he wrote the poems. ‘Birches’ is a poem that Frost wrote mainly to bring to the readers the concept of science in the society. In order to do this well, Robert Frost used other themes such as nature in relation to human in the poem. In the early days of 19^th century, Robert Frost was mainly concerned with ensuring perfection of what he referred to as “the sound of sense” (Fagan 37). In the poem ‘Birches’, the relationship between man and nature has been well illustrated either directly or using certain literary devices such as symbolism and irony. This paper examines the aforementioned theme as depicted in the poem.

Nature is one of the elements predominantly featured in ‘Birches’ and the poem include certain moments of encounter or interaction between a natural object or human speaker. The first three stanzas of the poem depicts nature as related to people. The persona says, “I like to think that some boys have been swinging them. But…” (Frost; Line 3-4). In this excerpt, the persona refers to the birches that have been bent to the right and left.  Birches are nature in the making but the fact that they swung is an indication of some level of human influence in them. The persona tends to find out the existing connection or relationship between the birches and the boys. Birch is a broadleaved hard wood tree that is deciduous in nature. Their ending is not natural and is seen to be influenced by human. In this case, the poet has employed the use of birches as symbolism to elaborate on how nature and human relate.

Like many other poems by Robert Frost, ‘Birches’ focuses on the act of discovery and Frost ensures demonstration of how human-nature engagement leads to self-discovery, knowledge and growth among people (Fagan 69). For example, the persona talks of climbing the birch tree towards the end of the poem to remove stiffness of the tree branches for other uses. “Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, Kicking his way down through the air to the ground” (Frost; Line 28-29). Here it is evidenced that Frost engages the readers of his poem to understand how human gained nature helped people gain knowledge during his time. In particular, he depicts the existence of an important relationship between nature and man.

Despite the fact that human depended on nature to make some beneficial discoveries, Frost makes it clear to the readers that nature is not concerned with human’s achievement, discoveries or miseries. In short, between nature and man, only man is aware that nature benefits him and not vice versa. He uses personification to show how ice affects trees. “Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning. After a rain, they click upon themselves” (Frost; Line6-7). In essence, he tries to show the readers that ice affects the comfort of birches, and the birches are not concerned with the human interests but their own.

As stated before, nature is a crucial theme in most of Frost’s poems. He describes the origin of human knowledge using nature. His poems reveal that science originated from the interaction between nature and man. The poem, ‘Birches’ is one of the poems showing the relationship between human and nature as described above.

Works Cited

Fagan, Deirdre J. Critical Companion to Robert Frost: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2007. Internet resource.

Frost, Robert. Birches. New York, NY: Henry Holt, 2002. Print.