preview

Poet: Robert Frost Essay

Good Essays

Poets use imagery to convey meaning, feelings, and emotions. The contemporary poet best know for his use of imagery is Robert Frost. The Road Not Taken, opened the eyes of poetic readers and critics to Frost’s artistic creations. He uses forms of language such as diction and syntax to capture and move the reader.
When read literally Robert Frost’s Birches is the speakers observations of the birch trees in a calm New England setting. The speaker sees the permanent bend of the trees from frequent ice storms and the climbing of a playful boy. The speaker appreciates the trees, as they are a part of his comforting surroundings. He would prefer the branches to be bent by a boy for …show more content…

(Lines 1-3)

One sees a swaying tree, then more trees behind it create a dark forest, and finally a boy enters the picture as the cause of the swaying. In lines four and five he speaks directly to the reader bringing him or her further into the poem, making it so that they can claim the experience described as their own.
The use of alliteration aids Frost in his attempt to create sound through words.
They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. (Lines 7-9)

“Click,” “cracks,” and “ crazes” are all very blunt words used to describe a sound. The repetition of the “c,” in all three words draws the reader’s mind to the sounds being illustrated with the “c” in colored holding the lines together. Quickly he changes the feel of the poem:
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 (Lines 10-12)

Here he uses alliteration once again to keep the words flowing. The words soon, sun, shed, shattering, snow, such, and sweep create a new feel to the tree. It is changing; the ice is departing no longer crashing and harsh to the observer.
In lines 32-38 Frost attacks something private in the reader; he focuses on concentration. Everyone knows what it is like to concentrate really hard to

Get Access