ing this poem would not have a desire to see a birch in the icy winter for themselves. Frost then suggests that he had rather imagine a little boy causing the bending of the branches by swinging and playing on them. He begins to tell a story within the poem. It is a story of a little boy living in a rural territory, possibly a farm, going out to do his chores, like fetching the cows, but gets side tracked by both the beauty of the woods and his wanting to play. Because the little boy is in a secluded environment he is forced to entertain himself. He has become accustomed to playing on his fathers trees, one by one he would conquer them all. He has been a frequent swinger of the birches and has taken the stiffness out of them and caused the branches to bend. Frost goes on to say He learned all there was to learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away. The little boy knows exactly how far to bend the branches without breaking them. Frost uses the image of filling a cup to the brim and even above the brim to illustrate to the reader just how close the boy is to breaking the branches. We all have filled our cups to the top and then had the challenge of carrying the cup without spilling the contents. Frost again has used a simple comparison to make his point. I, like Frost, prefer the explanation of the bent birches being caused by a little boy swinging on them. Little boys and trees seem to go hand in hand. I find it interesting that in the beginning Frost sees the birches in the winter, covered with ice. Then in the next section, when he envisions a young boy playing on them, the image of summer comes to mind. I see this as saying, the times that we bend, are not defined by the seasons. Good times and those bending (hard times) transcend throughout the times of our lives. He goes on to say Summer or winter the little boy played. The defining times in our lives cannot be narrowed down to a speci...
