Mending Wall

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Mending Wall

The year was 1914; this was a time in American history when we as a nation were just beginning to emerge onto the world stage. The world had yet to endure the First World War and all that followed it within the 20th century. This was at a time when life seemed to move at a slower pace and a large number of families still lived in the country. This is the place you must imagine in order to understand where Robert Frost is coming from when you read his poem entitled Mending Wall. Eighty-six years has passed since this poem was first published, but its message is timeless because it makes the reader challenge his or her own beliefs in maintaining and breaking down social boundaries. In this essay, I plan to look at the following questions. What are the principal themes of Robert Frost's Mending Wall? How does the poem use symbolism to broaden the problems of repairing boundaries? Does the 1st person agree or disagree that good fences make good neighbors? To what extent is the poem ironic and how does irony modify its moral messages?

I think that the principal themes of the poems are a combination of different ideas. The ideas of setting boundaries between people are based on prejudice. This poem makes you face the evil of prejudice and ask the question, why do we build walls (real and unreal) around ourselves? He not only asked this important question, but he also gave the answer within the poem. In this poem you find the two men coming together each year to rebuild the wall. This is a way of finding common ground between the two men that could help to build a lasting friendship between the two neighbors.

In this poem, Robert Frost used symbolism in order to express problems of repairing the boundary wall of the universal problem of maintaining social boundaries. In the poem Frost wrote

To each the boulders that have fallen to each

And some are loaves and some are nearly balls.

We have to use a spell to make them balance (16-18)

"Boulders" could represent differences between not only the two neighbors but also differences between all mankind. The word "loaves" and "balls" can represent big and small problems or differences between people. Frost was trying to challenge the reader to ask whether or not we need to build walls around ourselves in order to protect our own interests.

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