Reality Case
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Everyone has both Romantic and Anti-Romantic tendencies, and in poems people express their deepest feelings and thoughts. Often when life gets hard, escaping to our imagination, childhood, feelings, or nature, seems like the easiest thing to do. In the short poem “Birches” by Robert Frost we see Frost begin by showing that while idealization and escapism happens, he is steering away from Romanticism and showing his love for the bitter sweet reality of this world. Even though towards the beginning Frost embraces nature, as the poem progresses it becomes evident that while he tries to escape and talk about the emotions and feelings involved with that escape, reality is superior and even more enjoyable.
Towards the beginning of “Birches” Frost clearly brings out aspects of Romanticism Frost talks about a birch tree and how its bent. While in his mind he knows its bent by ice, rain, storms, and natural causes, he retreats to his childhood by remembering how he used to swing on bent birch trees. He says he would prefer to believe that a boy bent them, rather than the reality of why they are bent. He also talks about playing alone to daydream, think, and conquer. He desires to control circumstances so by climbing the tree it symbolizes him controlling and conquering it. When he gets to the top he flings himself into the air in an upward motion of transcendence. He was weightless, not bound by anything including gravity. For that moment life was nearly perfect; he used nature, childhood, feelings, and imagination to escape from the reality of life for just a moment.
Frost begins to talk about the reality of the tree, his surroundings, and the jump. He realized nothing about his surrounding was perfect or free from pain, and he was okay with that. In fact, hes using his feelings to describe life in a negative way. Its like as he hit the ground reality struck, and he was no longer that little kid swinging in the tree. He seems to be comparing whats physically happening to him in nature with what he is thinking and feeling inside. This is where the poem really transitions to anti-romanticism. Life and reality is no longer perfect or ideal, and thats okay with Frost. Frost talks about life being a pathless wood, cluttered by trees, and far from a wide open space. Here Frost is referring to life, and how life is never certain or predictable. There are either many paths to choose from or there is no path at all. Just like Frost every day we run into obstacles and trials, and like the forest our path isnt straight. Often things happen we didnt plan or expect, but thats what reality is. The cobwebs are just a metaphor for trials and problems