Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE YOUNG BIRCH, by ROBERT FROST



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE YOUNG BIRCH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The birch begins to crack its outer sheath
Last Line: To live its life out as an ornament
Subject(s): Birch Trees


The birch begins to crack its outer sheath
Of baby green and show the white beneath.
As whosoever likes the young and slight
May well have noticed. Soon entirely white
To double day and cut in half the daik
It will stand forth, entirely white m bark.
And nothing but the top a leafy green-
The only native tree that dares to lean,
Relying on its beauty, to the air.
(Less brave perhaps than tiustmg are the fair.)
And someone reminiscent will recall
How once in cutting brush along the wall
He spared it from the number of the slain,
At first to be no bigger than a cane,
And then no bigger than a fishing pole,
But now at last so obvious a bole
The most efficient help you ever hired
Would know that it was there to be admired,
And zeal would not be thanked that cut it down
When you were reading books or out of town.
It was a thing of beauty and was sent
To live its life out as an ornament.






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