Poets use images to convey meaning, feelings, and emotions. The contemporary poet best known for his use of imagery is Robert Frost. The Road Not Taken, opened the eyes of readers and poetic critics to Frost's artistic creations. Use forms of language such as diction and syntax to captivate and move the reader. When read literally Birches by Robert Frost is the speaker's observation of birch trees in a quiet New England setting. The speaker sees the permanent bending of the trees from frequent ice storms and the climbing of a playful boy. The speaker appreciates trees because they are part of his comfortable environment. He would rather have the branches bent by a boy because trees hold a place in his heart and he doesn't want their pain and destruction to be in vain. In line 41 the speaker's voice changes. He becomes reflective as he recalls his time as a boy swinging among those same birch trees. If the branches are to be bent and swayed, his wish is that it be done by a boy so that he can have fun. From lines 41-59 the speaker reflects. He wants to return to his childhood days, swinging in the same trees, bending the same branches, and listening to the ice storm as the branches "crash in on themselves / As the breeze picks up" (Lines 7-8). much more for a poem than simply for its literal interpretation. Being a master of language and the written word Robert Frost disguises his meanings behind descriptions of the nature around him. He expressed his need to use this method to reach the reader in his speech “Education through poetry”: Poetry provides the only permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another. People say, "Why don't you say what you mean?" We never do it, right, as we are all too much poets. We like to speak in parables, with hints and indirect indications, whether out of distrust or some other instinct. He is true to this in Birches, using the figure of a tree to symbolize life, an ice storm to represent the difficulties and obstacles the speaker has encountered throughout this life, and the word "heaven" (line 56) means happiness. Frost's word choices convey emotions and feelings to the reader. Birches awaken the senses of sight, hearing and touch. The first lines of the po...... middle of the paper ......y to go better. I would like to climb a birch, and climb the black branches on a snow-white trunk, towards the sky, until the tree could bear no more, this passage once again unfolds like a film. A man leaves all his problems behind and climbs the same birch tree, only this time he is climbing towards heaven, love and happiness. There is no dark forest around him. The poem ends with a few simple lines stating that a journey back in time to innocent childhood, returning with happiness, would be fulfilling. “One could do worse than be a birch swinger.” (Line 59) This final line is there to leave the reader with the memory of innocence and the hope that there is the possibility of carefree love in an adult world. Robert Frost used diction and syntax to transport the reader through the worlds of the present, the past, and more. of a dream. Allowing it to be part of every word and sentence. His words are left to interpretation, one can read the birches purely at face value, taking the denotation of each word to explain the overall meaning of the poem or reading through their connotation, allowing the poem to be read in terms of the life of the reader..