It is perhaps ironic that "Birches," set in a peaceful, almost idyllic New England landscape, first appeared during one of the most destructive wars in history. "Birches" was first published in 1915, when World War I was raging on the European continent. "Birches" shows little sign of the larger conflict that was engulfing the world; it is in no sense a war poem, and it displays no obvious political content. However, it is notable that there are many violent acts either shown or implied in the poem and that the language of conquest is conspicuous in the middle section of the poem.

Although Frost first reached prominence around the end of World War I, he had little in common with other poets, such as T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, who also became famous at that point. For one thing, he was over ten years older than...