Birches Isolation Quotes

This detail sums up the way that the geography can limit a young boy's contact with his peers.

Here we see the positive consequences of isolation. For example, isolation from other boys and girls had fostered a sense of ingenuity and creative thought in the boy.

The pathless aspect of the wood is isolating, in that it limits the speakers ability to get on "a beaten path" at the expression goes. More companions or attachments would create a path, but since he is isolate, he has to go alone.

What is the speaker hoping to gain from escaping to heaven? Does he hope to alleviate his feelings of loneliness, or does he hope to separate himself even further?