Gregory--
I agree with you completely about Keats's "Autumn"-- it's certainly among the most beautiful poems in the language, and I practically swoon whenever I read it. But I still differ with you about "Birches", and what I would call its-- forgive me-- flat-footed ending. Maybe this has to do with my knee-jerk tendency to concern myself with stylistic elements over substantive ones, but I find it jarringly colloquial, a sudden intrusion upon the articulate and somewhat elevated register that has characterized the whole tone of the poem.
Wilbur honestly does not convince me that Frost's decision to have his speaker "deliberately put his hands in his pockets and assume the role of the homely New England farmer"-- was a good one. I find myself wishing he had left me with something a little more memorable, after all that. Nothing fancy or theatrical, but memorable in the way, say, that the close of "Fire and Ice" is memorable; just those three little words: ". . .and should suffice." Wow. Vastly preferable, in my opinion, to the aw-shucks homespun philosophy that ends "Birches." I keep expecting him to add, "by cracky!"
End of pontification--
Marilyn
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