Explore Poetry with “Birches” by Robert Frost

SHARON’S BLOG
Have you ever come across something unusual and wondered how it got that way?

Robert Frost in his poem “Birches” does just that. He finds some birches in the woods that are bent down and wonders what happened to make them curve down. Did a boy come by and climb them, bending them down? Did an ice storm overwhelm the branches?

Then he remembers swinging on birch trees when he was a youngster, and he misses the little boy he once was. He misses the enjoyment of being young and swinging on birches.

Read his poem here. >>

Now it’s your turn: Think about something unusual you have come across and then write a poem about how it might have gotten that way. Use your imagination. This is a poem, not a scientific enquiry. Frost’s poem is written in blank verse. That is, it does not rhyme. You can choose to make yours rhyme or write it in blank verse.

Note: Robert Frost’s poem is cause and effect. That is, he knows the effect—the bent-over birches. Now he ponders the cause—what made them this way—and adds a longing of his life. Your poem will be very much like this as well.