Mending Wall

The narrator in ‘Mending Wall’ states, “Before I built the wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out.”

This creates a boundary that, that person never wants crossed again. Every now and again one finds openings within the bricks or holes in their “wall”. These holes in the wall represent the breakdown of one’s blockade as they are trying to let someone in or someone forcing their way in. On the other hand, there are people who love to have an open mindset towards everyone with no boundaries or guards up that they feel necessary. This is similar to the feelings of the speaker, as in lines 1-2 and lines 23 -26 in which the speaker tries to convince his neighbor that they do not need these walls, yet he continues to stick to his traditional saying of “good fences make good neighbors”. This brings the reader to an assumption that the neighbor has created these emotional barriers or “walls” that he is choosing to stick by. This term of “mending” that is used in the title means restored, altered, or adjusted which stands for a symbol in this poem of how as the relationship of the two neighbors changed, so did their fences as they might find these loose pieces. Within the poem the speaker talks of how the season of spring is coming about and he begins to get a little mischievous. This is one way the speaker uses the new season as a way to loosen these bricks within this wall that they have built and tear it down, but the neighbor refuses to give in. There are people like this in the world that try

In Robert Frost’s poem, “Mending Wall,” two neighbors meet annually to repair a wall that serves to separate their properties. The wall and the process of repairing the wall have multiple meanings and is open to interpretation. Throughout the poem, Frost employs numerous literary devices to express to the reader powerful images, and ideas as well as make the poem more interesting.

The use of conversation and the thoughts of the narrator reflect the poet's own thoughts. In line thirty to line thirty-five, the narrator questions the purpose of a wall. He has an open disposition and does not understand the need to “wall in” or “wall out” (line 33) anything or anyone.

With that, a regional spirit of racism and bigotry is felt from the neighbor. The speaker scorns his neighbor’s wall building antics, but has no choice but to settle with them. Ironically though, the speaker is way more involved and indulged with the annual repairing of the wall more so than the neighbor. The speaker tends to “bug” the neighbor about the wall in a way and comes off very clingy. He seems very excited about repairing a wall that he despises. The speaker sets the day they will repair on the wall together and also informs. Regardless of the, dubious attitude that the speaker gives off, it seems that he is more tied to the mending-wall tradition, more than the neighbor. The speaker comes off more of a modern man, while the neighbor is stuck in ancient, with building a “wall”. However, the speaker is no different from the neighbor; he likes his privacy and his sense of ownership.

In “Mending Wall”, two neighbors are ironically united by the traditional rebuilding of the wall between them. A wall symbolizes boundaries, orders, and separation. Or does it? One of the two neighbors doesn’t seem to think so. “Good fences make good neighbors” is his motto. (Line 26) The neighbor doesn’t see how ironic it is that the wall is a meeting spot. He uses the wall as an excuse to talk with his neighbor, because he is not very open or conversational. The situational irony ostended by Robert Frost is that the wall between the two clashing neighbors is supposed to separate them. However, each year, when they meet to “walk the line”, the wall serves as a meeting spot for the two to catch up. (Line 12) Dividing, but unifying, Frost uses the wall to symbolize unity amongst clashing people. Without the situational irony of repairing the wall, the two incompatible neighbors would unlikely be able to unite.

Walls separate friends and family from being together and having fun. In Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" the narrator and neighbor don't abhor each other but the wall is stopping them from being good neighbors. Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" is about taking down a wall that separates a country into two countries. The walls of the two texts are

Building physical and emotional walls has a negative impact on the people, countries, and civilizations they divide. In the case of Frost's poem, the wall took away the narrator's voice. The narrator disliked the wall, but was too timid to speak up for what he believes in. His neighbor says "good walls make good neighbors," but the narrator felt as if the wall should be torn down, and they should unite

While the narrator seems more willing to reach out to his neighbor, in the end, he does not. He does wonder why fences supposedly make good neighbors. For him, the question is what is he "walling in or walling out"? He seems to realize that he is "walling out" other people. As long as the symbolic wall stands between the neighbors, they will always be separated. Earlier in the poem, Frost uses the symbolism of a rabbit to seemingly reinforce this point. The hunters must destroy the wall in order to "have the rabbit out of hiding". The men, in turn must break down the walls between them if they are to come out of "hiding". The narrator seems to have a desire to point this out to his neighbor. However, he does not, simply dismissing his idea as "the mischief" that spring has instilled in him. He realizes that he is unable to communicate with his neighbor in any meaningful fashion and, thus, remains in isolation from him.

Similar to “Acquainted with the Night,” isolation is a major theme in “Mending Wall.” In “Mending Wall,” there are two characters: the speaker and the neighbor. The two characters have two different opinions on what make a “good neighbor.” The neighbor views walls as a crucial object in

Next, Frost and Reagan both feel as if the wall is affecting people physically and mentally. In "Mending Wall" the narrator seems to say that his neighbor is a savage. The neighbor seems convinced that the

"Mending Wall" was influenced by Frost's neighbor while he lived on his farm in New Hampshire. Like in "Home Burial," and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Mending Wall" is based on Frost's experiences in New England. Frost and his neighbor met every spring to wall along their stone wall and fix any problems with it, this is the exact setting of "Mending Wall" ("History"). Frost's neighbor, like the neighbor in the poem, always believed in the same saying "good fences make good neighbors." The only major difference between the poem and Frost's actual experiences is that in the poem the farmer and his neighbor had orchards, while Frost had a poultry farm ("History").

However, when the responders’ delves deeper into the poem, it is clear that at a allegorical level the wall is a metaphor representing the barrier that exists in the neighbours’ friendship. The first eleven lines of the poem if rife with imagery that describes the dilapidation of the wall. The first line of the poem emphasises that “something” exists that “doesn’t love a wall”. This personification makes the “something” seem human-like. The use of words such as “spills” and “makes gaps” convey an image of animate actions and create a vivid impression of the degradation of the wall. Nature, presented in the form of cold weather, frost and the activities of creatures, also seeks to destroy the wall. The idea that walls are unnatural and therefore nature abhors walls is portrayed in the phrase “makes gaps even two can pass abreast”, which metaphorically indicates that nature desires for man to walk side by side with no barrier between them. When the two meet to fix the wall, it is a metaphor that could be interpreted as the two repairing their friendship as “To each the boulders have fallen to each” which shows that faults in their relationship lie on behalf of them both. While they are mending the wall, a light-hearted tone is established. This is shown through the inclusion of the metaphor “spring is mischief in me” which shows the neighbours having fun together in repairing the wall,

“The parallel plots of a novel… would act in the reader's mind and perhaps the author's as a kind of splitting” (Holland). Frost meant the wall to embody the physical and psychological boundaries people set up to maintain their privacy. The narrator tone for most of the poem is ironic, because he expresses his desire to rid himself of the wall “There where it is we do not need the wall” (Frost 245), but he repairs it nonetheless, “I have come after them and made repair” (Frost 245). Frost introduces the reader with different causes for the recurring destruction of the wall. The narrator’s first possible cause is nature, but does Frost means a force of nature? His choice of words where “Frozen-ground-swell” (Frost 245), which is another way of saying Frost. The poet might be indicating that in actuality he is the one that want the wall destroyed. The second possible reason for the wall’s destruction is the hunters. The narrator constantly expresses his dislike of the wall, but is quick to reprimand anyone who destroys it; in this case the hunters. The narrator’s act of patching the wall when damaged, is a clear sign that he yearns for a psychological to distance him from the neighbor. This ironic tone continues throughout the poem, but it is never completely clear it the speaker wants the wall removed for good, or keep it as it is. The neighbor on the other hand,

          In the poem, “The Mending Wall” Frost creates a lot of ambiguity in order to leave the poem open for interpretation. Frost’s description of every detail in this poem is very interesting, it leaves the reader to decide for themselves what deductions they are to be making of the poem. To begin with, Frost makes literal implications about what the two men are doing. For instance, they are physically putting the stones back, one by one. Their commitment and constant drive shows how persistent these men seem about keeping the wall intact. On the other hand, there are inferences that something deeper is occurring.