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Mending Wall

            "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost assesses the relationship between two neighbors who join in the annual refurbishing of the stone wall that separates their land. The culprit of the damage is evident and mysterious. Repairs caused by intruding hunters are made often, so the responsible force remains unclear. The narrator mentions the "something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down." This "something" is unidentified and unexplained, which leaves the reader to his imagination Frost uses the imagery of the wall to depict man's separation from man and nature. The poem illustrates two diverse characters with profound differences in their perception of what the wall represents. He offers no answer regarding who's right or wrong, but again, a plethora of room for one's own interpretation. .
             The mischievous narrator tells the story of himself and his neighbor getting together each spring to mend holes that appeared in the wall. He describes these holes as "gaps even two can pass abreast." He owns an apple orchard and finds himself questioning the purpose of the wall since there aren't any cows to keep from eating his apples. He doesn't quite understand what they are "walling in or walling out." He has a playful notion in his mind when he suggests that it was elves they should keep out. He also adds humor by saying that his apples couldn't cross the property line to eat his neighbors' pinecones. Regardless of these playful thoughts, the narrator truly wants to build a friendship rather than rebuild what he feels is a barrier to it. He doesn't want to keep the old wall because he believes that it serves no modern purpose and acts as a barrier that stops a man's quest to connect with nature and mankind itself. .
             The neighbor has a completely different perception of what the stone wall represents. He relies on traditional wisdom that was passed down from his father. Twice in the poem he says, " Good fences make good neighbors.


Essays Related to Mending Wall

1. Robert Frost's "Mending Wall"

... head of his class. Frost's legacy began in 1912 when he moved to England to devote his life to writing, and his first book was published. "Mending Wall- comes from his second book North of Boston. ""Mending Wall- is different from the other poems in North of Boston because it is opposed to visions of human existence and focuses on the psychological necessities of ... times Frost's blank verse recalls "Tintern Abbey," in which Wordsworth describes those "hedgerows hardly hedgerows" in eloquently unruly lines. In any case, here "as at a number of moments in "Mending Wall" "metrical and rh...

  • Word Count: 1092
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Poetry Analysis - Fences and Mending Wall

... animals from entering or leaving. This definition of the word fence plays a central role both metaphorically and realistically in the play "Fences," by August Wilson, and in the poem "Mending Wall," by Robert Frost. Fences is set in Pittsburgh in the late 1950s throughout 1965, this era of segregation is crucial for the character development of Troy the protagonist of the ... constantly rebuilt but the traditional neighbor justifies the rebuilding through his reminder that "good fences make good neighbors". Similarly to Fences, "Mending Wall" identifies its main theme through the buil...

  • Word Count: 1235
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Contrasting Forces In Frost's"Mending Wall"

... assume that the reason why Frost wrote using this particular theme is because it comforted him to believe that there are natural contradicting forces in all life experiences. The poem "Mending Wall" is open for discussion on many levels of interpretation. To the negligent reader, the poem primarily represents the opposing arguments of two farmers on the subject of property boundaries. ... the narrator, then, the truth of the neighbor's slogan is in its dialectical opposite: in reality, it is good neighbors who make good fences" (Trachtenberg 7). The disagreement between characters in "M...

  • Word Count: 1049
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Mending Wall

... Robert Frost was said to be one of his favourite poems. Mending Wall is about the building of a wall between two men and their houses, however, looking deeper into the meaning, the poem seems to suggest the establishing of boundaries between elements of the physical world as well as ... through tradition and because he wants to, the other appears to be just going along with it; he does not seem to understand. The title itself "Mending Wall" seems to suggest something about the poem. The adjective "Mending" takes the gerund, which means it, is talking about the present. Perhaps this sug...

  • Word Count: 1222
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Mending Our Walls: Fixing Our Differences

... Robert Frost's second book entitled, North of Boston. The poem portrays the casual part of life as seen by two farmers mending their wall. A great number of people might look at "Mending Wall" and see a simple poem about a simple aspect of life. If this is truly the case then why are so many ... drawn to the poem and what is found when more than a superficial look is spent on Robert Frost's work? The "Mending Wall" is an insightful look at social interactions as seen in the comparison of the repeated phrases and the traditional attitudes of the two farmers. The speaker ... the eyes of th...

  • Word Count: 837
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Mending Wall

... ambiguous language. Robert Frost, one of the 20th century's greatest poets, gives both great detail and ambiguity in his poem "Mending Wall-. In only 45 lines, Frost allows us to take a meticulous look at the thoughts and ideas of a New England farmer. . "Mending Wall" is written in non-rhyming iambic pentameter. Blank verse is usually written so that when the poem is told, it ... his neighbor is thinking. Despite the speaker's language is rather colloquial, certain lines, the opening four lines for example, lend to the poem's rhythmical flow. Also, Frost does not write "Mending Wall- u...

  • Word Count: 1493
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Mending Wall

... for the sake of tradition. Sometimes, valued traditions are not always the best or most valid reason for doing something though. In his poem "Mending Wall,"" Robert Frost illustrates the advantages of analyzing traditions, and possibly changing them for the better. In Frost's poem, the narrator questions the seemingly ... these two men get together and fix any damages that may have come to the wall that separates their two houses. Although initiating the annual mending, the narrator firmly states "something there is that doesn't love a wall- (line 1), referring to nature and how it doesn...

  • Word Count: 619
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. Mending Wall Analysis

... coexist without walls and boundaries. The neighbor continues to the broken wall because it is easier to build a wall rather than create a new relationship. Even as they both build the wall, "[They] keep the wall between [them] as [they] go" (line 15). The neighbor's intention still is to separate the two. Unlike mending a wall, constructing a relationship with a stranger is not merely a seasonal task ... . Within a relationship, there must be compassion, compromise, and a constant effort of positive interaction. Although mending a wall involves the use of much physical energy, creating a...

  • Word Count: 696
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Mending Wall

Poetry Essay - Robert Frost "Mending Wall" The poem, Mending Wall, by Robert Frost is a very confusing piece of writing. In the poem there are many contradictions, examples of irony and unanswered questions. A reader may be able to ... . There are ironical quotes when the speaker seems to be against the wall, trying to convince his neighbour that they don't need it, but it is he that mends the wall after hunters destroy it and it is also he who calls his neighbour in spring mending-time. This also raises that maybe the speaker himself has attached to ... the old habit of wall mending. In the ...

  • Word Count: 662
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

10. Building and Breaking the Wall

... fear, lack of communication, and conflicting beliefs, these relationships either die or refrain from ever forming. Using tone and diction and imagery/symbols, the poems "Mending Wall", "A Hundred Collars", and "Home Burial" (among all the other poems) convey a unified theme of the book. Separation from a relationship is caused ... when its members have contrasting personalities, fear of each other, or lack of communication of their emotions. 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 contra...

  • Word Count: 2189
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

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