In the poem "Mending Wall", Frost uses the narrator and his neighbor's time spent together to display the huge gap between them. Due to their contrasting personalities, they do not share a bond. Frost uses tone and diction to show that the narrator has a much more playful personality than his neighbor who seems fairly traditional. When questioning what source is ruining the wall which separates their homes

These confrontations between two people all lead to a realization about life in general. Those whose personalities are extremely different aren't able to develop a relationship. In most cases, only one person really wants a friendship or open relationship to develop, but because of fear and misunderstanding, they aren't able to acheive that. Not only does this hold true for those who live North of Boston, but even today when people are seemingly different, they fear each other. Unfortunatley by fearing one another they do not ever communicate, and therefore they misunderstand each other. By being open with everyone and banishing all fear of each other, long-lasting relationships can be evident all over the world.

The poem "Home Burial" deals with this destruction of a marital relationship. In this case there are contrasting emotions between the husband and wife, but more importantly, they are suppressed. Because of lack of communication, they misunderstand each other and their relationship dies. Using tone and diction, Frost displays the husband and wife's fear and misunderstanding. Their primary problem lies in the past, and the wife "[Looks] back over her shoulder at some fear" (pg. 43 l. 3) showing the reader that the fear between them exists in the past. The idea of being open with each other is evident in this poem. As in all of the other poems there lies a sense of some separation. The husband tells the wife, "My words are nearly always an offence." (pg. 44 l. 48) The word "offence" is used in the same sense as it was in "Mending Wall". It's the barrier between them. He further says, "Will rot the best birch fence a man can build." (pg. 45 l. 97) The fence (barrier) between them is rotting now that they are being open with each other and communicating. But the fence still exists. The abundance of images and symbols in this poem collaborate with the tone and diction. There is an obvious separation between them shown through the use of doors, fences, and stairs. When she is at the top of the stairs he stays at the bottom, and she says, "I won't come down the stairs." (pg. 44 l. 42) This shows that she is less willing to break the barrier than he is. But at the end of the poem, this changes and he says, "Close the door," (pg. 46 l. 113) while she is "opening the door wider". (pg. 46 l. 118) He's okay with having this relationship die and keeping the separation between them, but she wants to communicate and break the barrier. There's also an extensive use of vision as a means of understanding. The wife thought of her husband as a "Blind creature"(pg. 43 l. 16) because for a while it seemed as though he didn't even realize a wall existed between them. He was blind and couldn't see it. But eventually he sees, realizing that he'd "never noticed it from [there] before." (pg. 43 l. 22) His position behind the barrier disabled him from realizing the problem. They dig the problem of death underground just as the husband dug the grave of his own son. The grave is a symbol which conveys the buried emotions and lack of communication. The wife notices this when she says, "If you had any feelings, you that dug with your own hand." (pg. 45 l. 76,77) This can be read literally or figuratively. T

Some topics in this essay:
Wall Frost, Dr Magoon, Wall It's, Home Burial, Dr Magoon's, Robert Frost, Mary Warren, Wall Layfayette, Doctor Magoon, North Boston, pg 28, tone diction, lack communication, pg 42, mending wall, ironic tone, develop relationship, literally figuratively, narrator doesn't, dr magoon, wall pg 28, using tone diction, read literally figuratively, fear lack communication,