Poets use imagery to convey meaning, feelings, and emotions. The contemporary poet best know for his use of imagery is Robert Frost. The Road Not Taken, opened the eyes of poetic readers and critics to Frost's artistic creations. He uses forms of language such as diction and syntax to capture and move the reader.
             When read literally Robert Frost's Birches is the speakers observations of the birch trees in a calm New England setting. The speaker sees the permanent bend of the trees from frequent ice storms and the climbing of a playful boy. The speaker appreciates the trees, as they are a part of his comforting surroundings. He would prefer the branches to be bent by a boy for the trees hold a place in his heart and he does not want their pain and destruction to be in vain. In line 41 the speaker's voice changes. It becomes reflective as he remembers his time as a boy swinging through those same birches. If the branches must be bent and swayed, his wish is for it to be done by a boy so that enjoyment may be gained. From lines 41- 59 the speaker reflects. He wants to be back in his time of childhood swinging through the same trees, bending the same branches, and listening after and ice storm as the branches "click upon themselves/ As the breeze rises" (Lines 7-8).
             There is so much more to a poem than just its literal interpretation. Being a master of language and the written word Robert Frost camouflages his meanings behind the descriptions of the nature around him. He expressed his need to use this method of reaching the reader in his talk, "Education by Poetry":
             Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another. People say, "Why don't you say what you mean?" We never do that, do we, being all of us too much poets. We like to talk in parables and in hints and in indirections- whether from diffidence or some other instinct.
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