Birches

Birches - The first few lines of the poem remind me of a boy who is flexible in life as youth often is. I think the 'straighter darker' trees is a metaphor for a man who has matured from the 'flexible' boy of years past. The straighter trees represent men who now must conform to life's inflexible structure as the roles and responsibility changes from boyhood to manhood. 'Darker' to me symbolizes the difference in the level of joy the man felt as a child vs. the mental despair the man must now face, as he becomes a responsible adult. The reference to the word 'ice-storms' to me paints a visual picture of the inflexible man that the boy has grown into.