1.
What
do ice storms do to the birches? During winter season ice storms lash on birch
trees and snow scales fall and deposit on the branches of birch trees. As a
result the branches of the birches bend to left right.
2.
“They
click upon themselves/ As the breeze rises, and turn many coloured” – explain:
These lines are quoted from Robert Lee Frost’s
famous poem titled ‘Birches’. Frost says that good poem always begins in
delight and ends in wisdom. It is true of ‘Birches’. During the winter season,
ice storms deposit ice on the branches of birch trees. When wind blows, the
branches click upon themselves and the ice accumulation is cracked and in the
warm sunlight the ice begin to flow down like a cascade. It is a wonderful
sight that ice flow down just as broken glass pieces flow down and rainbow
colours appear. You may think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
3.
What
are the bent birches compared to? In his poem ‘Birches’ written by Robert
Frost, the speaker compares the bent birches to girls who stand on hands and
knees and throw hair over their heads to dry in the sunlight. In short birch
trees look like girls with a lot of long hair.
4.
“Truth
broke in with all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm” What is the matter-of-fact truth? This line is quoted from Robert Lee Frost’s
famous poem titled ‘Birches’. The speaker says that the matter of fact truth is
the ice storm that bent the birches to left and right. But the poet prefers
fancy to fact or imagination to reality. He imagines that a boy has been
swinging on the birches for a long time and that is why the birches are bending
to left and right. He wants to break the truth about ice storm.
5.
What
is the advantage of birch swinging over many other forms of sport? In his poem
‘Birches’ the speaker says that birch swinging has many advantages over other
forms of sport. First of all, a boy alone can play the
game of birch swinging. Secondly, he can play this game throughout the year in
spite of heavy rain, storm, winter, summer or autumn seasons. Finally, it is a
spiritual game and less expensive. It
has no adverse effects. It is a solitary pastime.
6.
How
does the poet picturize the joyous abandon of the birch swinger? The poet in
his poem ‘Birches’ narrates the experience of the village boy who has been
swinging on the birches every morning and evening when he goes out with his
father’s cows for grazing on the meadow and the boy is climbing to the top
branches with great care. It is like reaching heaven for spiritual joy.
Finally, he comes down to the earth after getting the spiritual joy.
7.
What
is there to learn to be an expert at birch swinging? Robert Frost in his poem
‘Birches’ says that one has to learn many things to become expert at birch
swinging. When the boy climbs to the top branches by riding, he must take great
care to keep his balance just as filling a tea cup to the brim and over the
brim. When he reaches the utmost top branch, he must dip its top and fling
outward at a lightning speed.
8.
‘So
was I once myself a swinger of birches” What is the mood reflected in this
line? In his poem ‘Birches’ the speaker says these words in a nostalgic mood.
Once upon a time, when the poet was a boy, he used to ride on the birch trees.
9.
What
does the speaker wish to do when “weary of considerations”? The speaker of the
poem ‘Birches’ says that when he is tired of many worries, difficulties and
problems of life, he goes back to his boyhood days in imagination and swings on
the birch trees and reach heaven to get spiritual energy from God and comes
back to the earth again to resume his
life with renewed and refreshed energy. He knows well that life is like
a pathless wood where there is spiritual
darkness and you suffer pain, sorrow and humiliations from every side.
10.
“May
no fate willfully misunderstand me” What is the likely misunderstanding? In his
poem ‘Birches’ the speaker prays to God that he wishes to go to heaven by swinging
on birch trees and allow him to come back to the earth to resume his life again
with fresh spiritual energy. But the speaker feels that God or Fate may
misunderstand him and give him death so
that he will for ever live in heaven. He does not want to stay in heaven for
ever. Earth is the best place for love and life. There is an allusion to
Homer’s Iliad where the first part of Achilles’s prayer was consented
by Jove and Patroclus was allowed to recapture the ships from the Greeks. But
Jove did not consent to the second request, namely the safe return of
Patroclus. He was killed by Hector in the war.
11.
‘One
could do worse than be a swinger of birches” – Explain
In concluding the poem ‘Birches’, the narrator
speaks about the various advantages of birch swinging. First of all, a boy
alone can play the game of birch swinging. Secondly, he can play this game
throughout the year in spite of heavy rain, storm, winter, summer or autumn
seasons. Finally, it is a spiritual game and less expensive. It has no adverse effects. It is a solitary
pastime.
ESSAY “A poem begins in delight and ends in
wisdom” Discuss with reference to
‘Birches’
Robert Lee Frost is better
known as the ‘Wordsworth of America’, because these two poets find delights in the spiritual beauty Nature. Both of them wrote poems in
the day today language of the rustics. Both of
them believed in the simplicity of rustic life and situations.
Robert Frost’s poems in delight and
ends in wisdom. ‘Birches’ is the best example for this.
The poem begins with delightful
description of the wonderful flow of ice particles from the top branches in
every tree. The poet knows well that ice storms make the birch trees bending to left and right.
During the winter season, snow flakes begin to fall and is deposited in the
branches of the trees and for a long time the deposit is being accumulated and
the branches fall down to the earth. They are looked like the girls on hands and knees throwing their
long hair over their heads to dry in the sun. After some time when the sunlight
becomes warm, the ice begins to melt down from all the branches. Rainbow
colours appear and it is a wonderful cascade. You may think the inner dome of
heaven had fallen on the earth!
His poems take the reader as the main
character and the most familiar situations in Nature are introduced. The poem
swings between reality and imagination. We all know that ice storms make
birches bending to left and right. But the poet prefers to swing on the wings
of poesy. Therefore he says that a village boy has been swinging on the birches
and thus the birches are arching in the woods!. The boy is far away from the
town and does not know any games. So he himself finds a game. It is the riding
on birches and thus the branches are made flexible and bent down to the earth. The boy learns various tricks and
becomes an expert swinger of
birches. Another familiar day today
situation is filling the teacup to the brim and even above the brim. Such a
subtle care is taken by the boy while climbing from the lower branch to the top most branch of the tree and reaches heavenly bliss!
In the second part of the poem we get wisdom. Life is like a pathless
wood where one faces spiritual darkness, and he is tired of worries,
humiliations, daily difficulties. In such a situation, many people take shelter
in liquor, smoking, and other immoral activities. But the poet once again goes
back to his boyhood days in imagination and becomes a swinger of birches. By
climbing the birch trees, the narrator reaches heaven to get spiritual power.
But he does not want to stay in heaven. He wants to come back to the earth and begin life again
with fresh energy and spiritual power. Earth is the best place for love and
life. Kjt/- 26th October
2018
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