Analysis of Frost's Poem, Mending Wall

People keep an emotional distance between one another to prevent others from getting too close to them. Robert Frost in the poem “Mending Wall” shows the reader an example of two different kinds of people. One kind of person is open to the idea of friendship and is willing to make an effort to try to dissolve any conflict, and try to get along with someone else anyway possible. Then there is the other side which is against the idea of change, someone who is closed to the idea of something new and against breaking down social barriers. Yet both sides seem to find their common ground meeting at the wall.

“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost displays the seasonal routine of two neighbors who are constantly mending a wall which separates their properties. Every spring the two neighbors meet at the wall to repair any damaged or ill placed stone which may have occurred during the long winter months. Frost expresses the wall’s misshapen condition due to specific conditions like when,

“The frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun,

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding” (2-8)

Frost's use of detailed description in this poem is quite interesting. It helps provide the reader with a better visual image of the poem. He doesn’t go too far though as to tell the reader exactly what’s going on, he leaves the poem open to interpretation so that the reader can decide for himself what is truly going on between the neighbors. On one hand, Frost tells us specifically what is going on in the poem, the two neighbors meet together at the beg...

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...him and falling into the shadows. Also the poem makes a point to show that the quote the man used “Good fences make good neighbors” (57-58) was originally his father’s saying, so there is also some tradition behind the walls existence. To me the wall being up simply symbolizes how the men are very different and how the wall separates the two mentally, spiritually, as well as physically.

In a non-physical sense the wall is more of a line shown to separate the difference between the two types of people portrayed in the poem. Although not both sides feel and realize that they are different in many ways, it clearly shows that both men do not share the same feelings towards the same subjects. It makes a point to admit that they are not completely different and that they can get along, but on a more personal level it is best for everyone to do things their own way.