Robert Frost examines what role fences play in shaping relationships between neighbors. Do neighbors get along better because of walls separating their properties? Frost quotes his neighbor several times as saying “good fences make good neighbors.” But the idea has several interpretations. The most obvious meaning is that walls separate people from one another and that this separation eliminates the possibilities for feuds or disappointments, or trespassing, both literally and figuratively, on a neighbor’s domain. A second possibility is that fences make for good neighbors because each year Frost must work with his neighbor to repair the fence. The joint cooperative effort means that the neighbors have a reason to get together at least once a year and complete a common task under positive circumstances.
The first line of the poem supports the second idea: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” The wall requires annual repairs because over the course of a year the stones in the wall fall out and various natural objects create spaces in the wall. Human forces, including hunters, also cause breaks in the wall, showing that trespass is a common event in Frost’s world. To deal with these problems, Frost and his neighbor “meet to walk the line, And set the wall between us once again.” Each neighbor stays on his side of the wall as they make repairs, which would seem to support the neighbor’s belief, learned from his father, that privacy and distance is the best way to maintain good relations with neighbors.
Frost observes that the wall serves no formal purpose, and he considers debating the purpose of the wall with his neighbor. He thinks of saying that before building a wall “I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling o...
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...ife, despite Frost’s thought to blame elves for the wall’s disrepair. Nature is possibly personified in the opening line as the “Something” that does not love a wall and causes the wall to suffer from natural forces as well as human interventions. Nature is a force with a personality of sorts. There is no allusion to any historical character, although the use of elves is a reference to mythical creatures (unless you are a die-hard Hobbit fan).
Frost’s conclusion that the wall is necessary if only to keep his neighbor happy is supported by the whimsical nature of the verse. The poem’s tone is light and Frost’s emotions are never angry or annoyed. He accepts his lot with the wall, and he does his best to make lemonade from lemons. He knows he will never change his neighbor’s mind, and for Frost it is just another event he adjusts to without becoming upset about it.
Henderson, Gloria M., Anna Dunlap Higgins, Bill Day, and Sandra Stevenson Waller. Fences. Literature and Ourselves 2009 Mla Update. Sixth ed. N.p.: Pearson College Div, 2011. 143-97. Print.
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 believes, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall"(Stanford 1, 28). What sets this line apart from others?
Both authors explore the progressive attitudes and how these were received during the time period of both Fitzgerald and Robert. Frost presents this idea in the poem, ‘Mending Wall’. The poem is about two neighbours who every year go to the end of the garden to meet and build a wall together. However, one neighbour is confused as why there needs to be a wall as there is nothing that needs to be divided or prevented from escaping or entering. This neighbour begins to challenge the other neighbour, ‘why do they make good neighbours?’
To begin the poem, the speaker describes the various causes for the damage of the wall. When he refers to something there “that doesn’t love a wall,” he is referring to a tree, which by nature is consistently causing damage to the wall. As the roots of the tree grow, it causes the frozen ground beneath the wall to swell, and “spills the upper boulders in the sun.” Clearly this tree has a problem with the wall, and yet the speaker and his neighbor continue to fix it every year.
families, or ethnicities. Robert Frost wrote of fences in his poem ―Mending Wall‖ showing how
The speaker in Frost’s, “Mending Wall” expresses through thoughts primarily the necessity for a wall between himself and his neighbor. Every year the wall is damaged by weather and hunters as the speaker indicates, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall (Frost, 51).” Additionally, the speaker asks his neighbor of what purpose is there is such ...
It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people make physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where neighbor with pine tree, believes that this separation is needed as it is essential for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall, ?Something there is that doesn?t reflect love a wall? this reflects that nature itself does not like separation. The "something" referring to the intangible sense of social interaction. Furthermore "that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it" refers to Frost or to the author. Although the narrator does not want the wall, ironically, the mending of the wall brings the neighbors together and literally builds their friendship. An additional irony of the poem is that the only time these two neighbors sees each other is when they both mend the wall. The narrator sees the stubbornness in his neighbor, and uses the simile 'like an old-stone savage' to compare him to a stone-age man who 'moves in darkness', that is, set in his ways, and who is unlikely to change his views.
Clearly, he is a casual sort. He broaches no difficult subjects, nor does he insist on talking about himself; yet Frost is at his best in a sentence like this. Through the language and rhythm of the lines we gain a faint but unmistakable sense of the poem's conflict. Like the "frozen-ground-swell," it gathers strength while lying buried beneath the denotative surface of the poem. From the start, we suspect that the speaker has more sympathy than he admits for whatever it is "that doesn't love a wall."
The poem “Mending Wall” begins by the narrator telling is that there is a wall that is constantly being taken down by nature, and the narrator and his neighbor have to keep re-building it. But as the poem progresses, the narrator becomes unsure with himself, and begins to say that there is a wall “There where it is we do not need the wall” (23). He starts to question why a wall is there, knowing that he can never get across it to his neighbor. As the poem keeps progressing, he learns that the wall is there because of his neighbors tradition from his father, and he ends up saying “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall that wants it down (35), and he is talking about himself. In the progression of this poem, we see the narrator’s character change from someone who is persistent to someone who has hatred for what he is doing. He becomes more aware, having an epiphany, learning that there is truly no need for a wall, and it is only there because his neighbor is following his father’s tradition that requires him to keep the wall up. Through this characterization, we see that by only one side having hatred for the other, it can cause a division between them, because one person disagrees with the other. Through this poem, we see many character changes amongst the narrator, but one character that stays the same
In his poem 'Mending Wall', Robert Frost presents to us the ideas of barriers between people, communication, friendship and the sense of security people gain from barriers. His messages are conveyed using poetic techniques such as imagery, structure and humour, revealing a complex side of the poem as well as achieving an overall light-hearted effect. Robert Frost has cleverly intertwined both a literal and metaphoric meaning into the poem, using the mending of a tangible wall as a symbolic representation of the barriers that separate the neighbours in their friendship.
"Mending Wall" is a poem written by the poet Robert Frost. The poem describes two neighbors who repair a fence between their estates. It is, however, obvious that this situation is a metaphor for the relationship between two people. The wall is the manifestation of the emotional barricade that separates them. In this situation the "I" voice wants to tear down this barricade while his "neighbor" wants to keep it.
When a wall is encountered literally and physically, there are many different ways in which a person can react to the situation. One group of people would generally just find a way over or around the obstacle. While some other people might pursue a way directly through the wall. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but they both exist as outcomes to the same dilemma. The basic wall has been around with humans for as long as the discovery of masonry has been around. Robert Frost’s poem Mending Wall is one such example of how a wall can have conflicting properties of human interaction. The neighbor in the poem says that “fences make good neighbors” and that the two neighbors involved with the wall rebuild it each spring and they enjoy fixing the wall with each other. The poem just helps illustrate that walls are an important factor in human activities. Walls are not limited to any specific culture or region and still they continue to be built over time.
The poem renders an apparent question: Why do people build unnecessary obstructions between one another? Each the poet and his neighbor stays on his side of the wall, taking up the stones that had fallen on his own side, which suggests that there is no trespassing at all. The mysterious force that appears to be attempting to destroy the wall is a symbolic representation of the craving for harmony among all of mankind. This craving is almost depressing, because the dissatisfaction is never quenched. Its will is, however, strong and persistent, and it "makes gaps even two can pass abreast," which is a plead for the men to put aside their differences and walk side by side. Frost sympathetically watches as his neighbor "moves in darkness." The poet does not mean that he dwells under the shadow of his pine trees, but under the shadow of his hostile ignorance, and the poet perceives no hope for his brutality. The neighbor, however, thinks himself highly for his wit, disregards the wisdom of his father, and states indifferently, "Good fences ...
Frost begins the poem by relating the damage that has been inflicted upon the wall. The stunning image of the force "that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it and spills the upper boulders in the sun, and makes gaps even two can pass abreast" shows us that something natural, beautiful, and perhaps divine is taking place (2-4). From the very beginning he suggests that living without the wall is something positive. As the poem continues, we are introduced to two farmers engaged in the annual task of making repairs to the stone wall which separates their properties. In lines 14-17, Frost gives us the description of the neighbors meeting to walk the line, each picking up and r...
Robert Frost is known for his poems about nature, he writes about trees, flowers, and animals. This is a common misconception, Robert Frost is more than someone who writes a happy poem about nature. The elements of nature he uses are symbolic of something more, something darker, and something that needs close attention to be discovered. Flowers might not always represent beauty in Robert Frost’s poetry. Symbolism is present in every line of the nature’s poet’s poems. The everyday objects present in his poems provide the reader an alternative perspective of the world. Robert Frost uses all the elements of poetry to describe the darker side of nature. After analyzing the Poem Mending Wall and After Apple Picking it is clear that nature plays a dark and destructive role for Robert Frost. This dark side of Frost’s poetry could have been inspired from the hard life he lived.