Narrative Poem Research

Birches
            
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground,
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm,
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to fetch the cows--
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.
One by one he subdued his father's trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And not one but hung limp, not one was left
For him to conquer. He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise
To the top branches, climbing carefully
With the same pains you use to fill a cup
Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It's when I'm weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig's having lashed across it open.
I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches. 


Robert Frost's Birches is written in blank verse, which means that it is mostly unrhymed with iambic pentameter structure (steady meter). Compares to other narrative poems, I think Birches isn't quite long. The speaker is probably an old wise man who has experienced the darkness of the world and I assume that the speaker is the author himself, because the speaker reminded his carefree childhood. The poem examines common life experience, in which the speaker is eager to escape from the Earth by climbing the birches to the heaven, but he wants to return to Earth, too. The poem examines that escape isn't the right choice because it's temporary and the speaker has to return to the "Truth". The speaker has responsibilities on the ground, though he wants to escape, he has to fulfill his missions. The author's tone is distress since he is in the dilemma, whether escaping or facing the truth that he has responsibilities. Diction influences the style since the author compares bent birches to straighter, darker trees; ice to sunny which creates a dilemma. I think that the poem has rich figures of speech. Cracks and Crazes is alliteration since it represents the wrinkles of old ages. Cracking ice is an example of metaphor because it is compared to both crystal shells and broken glass. The ice storm which bent the birches to left and right symbolizes that life weights people down with stress and responsibilities. The author uses simile to describe that the trunks of birches arching in the woods like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair. Dramatic irony occurs in the poem in which the author hopes to get away from the Earth but he knows that he can't escape from the reality. "One could do worse than be a swinger of birches." is an understatement in which a speaker says less than what he/she means. The last sentence leaves a lingering aftertaste since it seems unimportant but actually impresses the readers. Readers will think deeply, and smile at the bittersweet of the poem. I think that the author uses great imagery since he describes the birches lively. I can imagine how the thick ice crust covers the birches. The visual and auditory images clearly appear in my mind. I can visualize the ice storm and hear the wintry storm clicking in the breeze according to "Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning/After a rain. They click upon themselves/ As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored/ As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel." However, "Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells/ shattering and avalanching gives me a warm touch. I think that the author's style is poetic and it created a rhythm when the author switches from the old age to the youth. I appreciate Frost's poems because he has the magical power which draws the readers to love his poems and understand the world in a different point of view.

Life- Extended Metaphor

Life is the round stick of wax with a piece of string through its center, which burns itself but gives off light to the others, and creates sunshine for oneself. It gives a warm glow to the world and flares in the darkness, but it burns brightly until it turns to dust and ashes. I compare life to a candle because a candle burns itself but lights up the world. I believe that the purpose of life is selflessness, which is similar to the function of the candle. A candle lives its life to the fullest potential and burns itself to dust and ashes. The value of life is how people are willing to sacrifice for each other and light up the world. Though supreme sacrifice is painful, people do live the fullest potential of life and understand the beauty of selflessness. Life is hard to describe, only when people experience own lives, they can understand how splendid the candle can be.

The Seven Ages of Man Quickwrite

I think that the seven ages of a person's life are infant, teenager, ambitions (dreams), adulthood, love, elderhood, realization, and childhood. I am an abnormal person, and thus my explanations are based on my thoughts and creativity. As the infant comes along the world crying, it begins its journey to discover the world. The infant is naive, innocent, but it will gain knowledge throughout the time. The infant then becomes a teenager, who is somehow rebellious and has his/her own opinions. The teenager faces the stage of growing up, so he/she needs to traverse the winding paths and overcome the difficulties along with family, friends, and teachers. While the teenagers are growing up, most of them start to think about the future and dreams. We all embrace beautiful dreams, though they are faraway, but it's possible to achieve the goals. We start to develop ambitions in order to fulfill self-esteem and try to make our dreams come true. The next stage is adulthood. People become mature, independent, self-sufficient, and most important, become responsible for their behavior. We learn to be responsible because we are no longer kids. Kids can make mistakes because they are still young, childish; however, adults are the models of kids. Adults have to become mature. (Sigh~) I don't want to become an adult! People might have true love and decide to have a long-term love relationship-- marriage in adulthood. When we are young, we might meet people who impress, amaze us, but they are just splendid passengers who decorate, enrich our lives. We will eventually find the true love who is born to belong to each other. I believe that true love will accompany us till elderhood. People become old in elderhood and they start to remember what happens in their wonderful, mediocre, or miserable life. They start to have slower pace of life since they have encountered all the difficulties through the wind and rain. Eventually, elder people might achieve self-realization, in which they understand nihility. Everything is nothing; nothing is everything. I believe in Buddhism and I hope to reach nihility in the future. Why do I believe that the last stage is childhood? Because I believe that elder people will rejuvenate. Elder people start to drop rice, can't hold the spoon firmly, which act like babies, because they are learning to become angels but can't adapt in the form of angels. At the last moment of living, people will suddenly remember all the beauty of life, become lucid, clear, and join the choir invisible along with a feeling of incredible freedom.

Disrespect

If I feel disrespected in a particular situation, I will smile fakely and pretend nothing happens. I'll try to act gently and treat the person as kind as possible, but I might blame at him or her secretly. Depends on our relationship, if the person is merely a stranger, I will think that he/she is rude, impolite, and I might not befriend with him/her. If I acquaint with that person, I think that the person needs to express his/her emotions and give vent to anger so I am willing to forgive and forget. If the person dare to affront me, I won't flinch from the discourtesy, I will strive to find solutions instead. For example, I will express my discontentment straightforwardly and ask the person to be polite. I won't bear the insult and hurt myself. Since I don't have rhetoric speaking skills, it's hard for me to use euphemism to express my feelings. However, I'll express my feelings indirectly in order not to hurt the person, but I hope to maintain my self-esteem.

Turning Point

Basketball team means a lot for me. It represents our wonderful tacit agreement, active partners, strong will power, and good sportsmanship. Joining basketball team is a turning point in my life since it gives me the enthusiasm and passion to play basketball. I love basketball deep from my heart since it's interesting and fascinating. If I have never joined girl basketball team before, I won't be familiar with such great partners, strict but thoughtful coach, and the sport called basketball. I envision that my life will be different since all the members in basketball team will probably look like strangers to me. Mr. Lee will only become the PE teacher who I will never find after school. I won't love basketball because it's another boring sport in which people fight for that ball. I won't enjoy the victory when shooting the ball. I will still have the boring every-day school life and waste my time after school. I won't be interested in basketball because I simply didn't know how to play basketball well. I will still become the Angela who was only good at swimming and ping-pong in sports. Thanks for my decision to join basketball team, I now have a different life and new hobby with all my great partners.

Selfless Sacrifice

Yes, I once had an experience in which I have to decide whether giving the chance to someone who I cared about or not. When I was in elementary school, we chose our model student according to his or her behavior, grades, and popularity among the students. There was a classmate whom I knew that she was about to transfer due to family issues. She was an well-behaved, kindhearted, and generous student. Though we weren't close, we still played together. She was intelligent, adept in running, and good at math. However, she was quiet and shy. Too quiet. Thus, she wasn't that popular among the playful, childish, energetic kids. On the Teacher's Day, our class chose the model students. Though it was a competition, I didn't really care about the fame and honor. I thought it was a leadership game and I loved games. I was a talkative, active, and immature kid at that time. Since my grades were good, all my classmates loved asking me questions. I liked to help my classmates and reply the questions because I could learn from their problems. Sometimes I was surprised by my explanation because I didn't know that I actually absorbed all the knowledge and could interpret in my own way. The girl and I were both the candidates. Fortunately, I won the leadership game. Yeah, I became the model student. However, when I turned my head around the class, I saw the girl's lonely expression in which I felt sorry for her. This was her last chance to become a model student in this school and compassion suddenly gushed out of my heart. A sense of giving in emerged in my mind and thus I stood up and "renounced" my prize. I didn't understand why did I make the decision but I thought that I might help the poor girl. Perhaps, it's sympathy which promote me to make the crucial decision. I am pity for the girl because it's her last chance. As for me, I still had many chances as long as my classmates still loved me, right?