Robert Frost's Mending Wall

significance of this section in the poem is the underlying relationship between what the narrater

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.

In the poem "Mending Wall," Robert Frost utilizes the literary devices of imagery, meter, and symbolism to demonstrate the rational and irrational boundaries or metaphoric "walls" humans place on their relationships with others. The precise images, such as the depiction of the mending-time ritual and the dynamic description of his "old-stone savage armed" neighbor, serve to enhance our enjoyment as well as our understanding of the poem (40). The poem is written in blank verse (iambic pentameter); the form that most closely resembles everyday English. Frost deliberately employs this direct, conversational, and easy to understand style of meter which appears

The poem is written in free verse, offers no type of rhyme scheme, and in one long stanza. This contributes to

The speaker and the neighbor both have their own land, with a set boundary of where it ends. The wall is a product of modern society, which says that land is the property of a certain individual, and that individual is the owner and overseer of that property. In order for society to know what property belongs to the speaker, and what belongs to the neighbor, there must be a barrier to show the definitions of their property.

And rather than give up and thus acknowledge the inexistence of his world, or the falseness of his story, he remains lucidly supportive of imagination, by integrating his neighbor into his fantasy as "an old-stone savage armed". This explains why the last line, curiously, is spoken by the neighbor, for the neighbor, now having been incorporated into the fantasy world, is able to take part in the poem, and its imagination. Yet, at least on this level, the story is left inconclusive, without a direct or open challenge from the speaker to the neighbor with regards to his outdated traditions, as both the speaker and the neighbor fail to communicate with one another. The speaker, ironically that is, creating a wall, through his imagination, that blocks out his neighbor, and the neighbor supporting a physical wall that leaves out his neighbor. Thus no wall is truly mended, as they all remain standing, and standing strong.

By the end of the poem [the wall] has become a symbol, and the two farmers have turned into allegorical figures representing opposing views of freedom and confinement, reason and rigidity of mind, tolerance and violence, civilization and savagery.... There is no mistaking the poet's meaning, or his attitude toward what the wall represents ... it

"Mending Wall” is a poem by the twentieth century American poet Robert Frost. Whenever we learn about poetry in school, Robert Frost has always been one of my favorite poets (along with Charlotte Brontë). Poems like "The Road Not Taken” and "Nothing Gold Can Stay” were always my favorites. I remember reading "Mending Wall” sometime freshman or sophomore year, and it had intrigued me. We hadn't looked to deep into the poem as much as I would have liked.

What is so important about mending a wall? Robert frost a down to earth, phenomenon has used his supernatural skills to write a poem which may seem to be a simple, ordinary poem, yet what lays hidden behind the veils may be unraveled. That is the spiritual world that you and me may learn to understand the philosophical basis of human nature that provokes the human revolution. Believe it or not this poem was ingeniously devised by Robert Frost to articulately open up a world of ideas that acumen imagination and its complexities. That is what I will be elaborating on in terms of textual evidence.

“Mending Wall” written by Robert Frost seems to take place in a countryside estate. The speaker and his neighbor are fixing a wall together, which separates their properties. “Mending Wall” is a poem that describes the relationship between two neighbors and idea of maintaining barriers. This poem reflects how people make physical barriers and emotional barriers. A barrier is an object that keeps something in or the unwanted out. The speaker wants to know why these barriers are up. “If we make a psycho-analysis of the speaker through the present poem, we came to the conclusion that the neighbour is no one but the inner self of the speaker” (Srivastava 257). “This wall is nothing, but the gap between human-beings on various aspects culturally, economically, and socially” (Srivastava 257). The wall is a basis for the many differences that people in our society have. Throughout this poem, we see the speaker struggle to find a reason for having a wall that is separating him from the neighbor. The speaker is valuing innovation over tradition. Although, the speaker is also a man of tradition he is trying to rebel against the norms that frustrates him. The speaker does not want a relationship with his neighbor.

"The Mending Wall" by Robert Frost is one of the poems in his collection that he wrote after his encounters with back- country, New England farmers. The poem centers on a wall that separates one neighbor from the other. The introduction to the wall describes the large gaps in need of repair that appear after hunters accidentally shoot the wall while hunting rabbits. The narrator then lets his neighbor know that the wall is in need of repair and they walk with the wall between them in order to view what needs repair. The narrator then notices that the wall is not necessary because his apple trees will never get across to eat the cones under his pines. However, the other

"Mending Wall" by Robert Frost is a poem in which the characteristics of vocabulary, rhythm and other aspects of poetic technique combine in a fashion that articulates, in detail, the experience and the opposing convictions that the poem describes and discusses. The ordinariness of the rural activity is presented in specific description, and as so often is found in Frost's poems, the unprepossessing undertaking has much larger implications. Yet his consideration of these does not disturb the qualities of accessible language and technique, which give the poem its unique flavor and persuasiveness. The poem works on two levels of realism and metaphor, with a balance as poised as the act of mending the all itself.

One of the first things that I noticed about the style of the poem was that it was not broken up into stanzas, when looked at sideways gave the illusion of a wall with gaps. It is a series of lines which become a poem that is written as a blank verse iambic pentameter. Each line consists of ten syllables with the exception of Lines 8, 16, 24, 26, 27, 28, 37, 43, 45, which contain eleven syllables. At first glance it is easy to overlook this detail, but once it is noted the question arises, what is the significance in these particular lines? In lines 26 and 45 the neighbor says to Frost, “Good fences make good neighbors”, we also learn in line 43 that, “He (the neighbor) will not go behind his father’s saying”. These particular lines are important because they help us to understand that the presence of the wall is something that was instilled in the neighbor. By taking note that the mending of the wall

Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” tells the story of two neighbors who come together yearly to mend the stone wall which divides their property. One neighbor, the narrator, is skeptical of this tradition. He does not understand the need for a wall since neither neighbor has livestock to be contained on their property. However, his neighbor maintains that the wall is crucial to maintaining their relationship claiming that “good fences make good neighbors.” Throughout the poem, the narrator attempts to convince his neighbor otherwise, yet no matter what he says, the neighbor always maintains that “good fences make good neighbors.” The narrator sees the wall as pointless, not seeing a need for the division. Despite his skepticism and criticism towards this tradition, the narrator appears to be more tied to this tradition than his neighbor.

Frost’s ability to appeal to the common man through complex ideas and unique writing style has changed American poetry from an old writing style to a new, modern style. With not only making himself a household name through his many popular works, he also has been awarded four Pulitzer Prize awards for his poetic books. In schools throughout the United States, Robert Frost’s poems are being read and examined today. In conclusion, it is clear that his poems will forever have a lasting impact on not only American literature, but also American