The Philosophy of the Birches The philosophy expressed in "Birches" poses no threat to popular values ​​or beliefs, and is so affirming and captivating that many readers have considered the poem a masterpiece. Among Frost's most famous works, perhaps only "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" precedes him. However, for critics like Brooks and Squires, the character's philosophical stance in "Birches" is a serious weakness. . .]The didactic and philosophical element that some critics have attacked strikes others as the very core of Frost's virtue.[. . .]Perhaps impartial observers can accept the idea that "Birches" is neither as bad as its most ardent opponents suggest, nor as good as its most adoring supporters claim.[. . .]"Birches" . . . contains three fairly long descriptions that do not imply unusual perspectives. Indeed, the poem's most original and distinctive vision—the passage dealing with ice on trees (ll. 5-14)—is undermined by both the self-consciousness of the final line ("You would think that the inner dome of the sky had fallen" ) and by the two much more conventionally perceived environments that follow it: the rural childhood of the birch swinger (ll. 23-40) and the "pathless forest", which represents the "considerations" of life (l.44-47 ). Consequently, the poem's fiery concluding lines – its concluding declarations on life, death and human aspiration – do not arise from any particular experience. Instead, they are presented as doctrines that we must accept or reject based on our trust in the speaker as a wise farmer whose familiarity with birch trees, ice storms, and pathless woods gives him authority as a philosopher. the natural object - tree, ice crystal, pathless wood, etc. - functions as evidence of the speaker's rusticity, Frost has no need for extraordinary perspectives, and so the poem does little to convince us that an "experience," to be used In [Robert] Langbaum's words, "is really happening, that the object is seen and not simply remembered by a public or abstract vision of it". This is not to deny that the poem contains some brilliant descriptive passages (particularly memorable are the ice crystals rattling, cracking, and shattering in lines 7-11 and the boy's laborious ascent and sudden, exhilarating descent in lines 35 -40), and without a doubt, the concluding lines offer an engaging exegesis of swinging birches as a way of life. But even though we learn a lot about this speaker's beliefs and preferences, we ultimately discover that he has not revealed himself as deeply as the speaker does in "After the Apple Pick"..