Analysis of the BirchesThe discursive meditation in blank verse "Birches" does not focus on a continually encountered and revealing natural scene; rather, he constructs a mosaic of thoughts from fragments of memory and fantasy. Its vividness and genial, bittersweet speculations help make it one of Frost's most popular poems, and because its shifts in metaphor and tone invite diverse interpretations, it has also been the subject of much discussion criticism, not always admiring. The poem oscillates between two visual perspectives: the birches bent by the boys' playful swing and the ice storms, the thematic overlap being somewhat confusing. The bent birch trees "through the lines of straighter, darker trees" subtly introduce the theme of imagination and contrast with darker realities. Then, almost a third of the poem describes how ice storms bend these trees permanently, contrary to the boys' action; this scene combines images of beauty and distortion. The ice shells suggest a radiance of light and color, and the trees bent down to the level of the ferns suggest suffering that is immediately illuminated....