NON-AFRICAN POETRY Comment on the poet's attitude to nature in Frost's "Birches

Answer Details

In Robert Frost's Birches, the poet's attitude to nature is one of deep affection, close observation and imaginative delight. Nature is not merely scenery but a source of beauty, reflection and even a way of coping with the burdens of life.

Loving and attentive observation. Frost watches nature with the eye of one who knows it intimately. He describes the birch trees bent "to left and right", their ice-loaded branches clicking and cracking in the winter sun, and the shattered crystals of ice "like broken glass". This precise, tender detail shows a poet who loves the natural world of rural New England and studies it closely.

Nature as beauty and wonder. The frozen birches, shedding their ice and shining in the sun, fill the poet with a sense of beauty and marvel. Even a scientific fact, that ice-storms bend the birches, cannot satisfy him; he prefers to imagine that a boy has been swinging them. Frost thus responds to nature not only with knowledge but with imaginative wonder.

Nature and human experience. Frost characteristically links nature to human life. The bent birches lead him to recall the boy who swings on them, and this becomes a meditation on innocence, play and the passage from childhood to adulthood. Nature becomes a mirror for human experience and a teacher of its truths.

Nature as escape and renewal. When life becomes "too much like a pathless wood", full of confusion and pain, the poet longs to "get away from earth awhile" by climbing a birch toward heaven. Yet he does not wish to leave the world for good; he wants the tree to set him "down again", for "Earth's the right place for love". Nature offers temporary escape and refreshment, but also renews his love of ordinary life.

A balanced, earth-loving attitude. Frost's attitude is finally affirmative and grounded. He values transcendence but returns to earth; he prizes imagination but respects fact. Nature, for him, is a companion that both lifts the spirit and reconciles the individual to the demands of living.

Technique. Through vivid imagery, blank-verse conversational rhythm and the central symbol of birch-swinging, Frost communicates a warm, thoughtful and reverent relationship with the natural world.

In conclusion, Frost's attitude to nature in Birches is one of love, wonder and reflective engagement. Nature delights him, stirs his imagination, offers escape from life's trials, and finally returns him, renewed, to the earth he cherishes.