The Themes of Robert Frost's Mending Wall
One of the major themes of Frost's Mending Wall is the cycle of the seasons. Several phrases refer to the seasons, particularly in a repetitive, cyclic way: "spring mending-time," "frozen ground-swell," "once again," "spring is the mischief in me." Another theme is parallelism or the lack of it. Sometimes this parallelism takes a physical form, associated with the wall, as we imagine the two men walking parallel paths: "We meet to walk the line." "We keep the wall between us as we go." "One on a side." It is a mental wall, though, as well as a physical one, and I read the gaps as making possible a meeting of minds and attitudes as well as of lands and bodies. Closing the gaps in the wall means closing off points where the two men might meet physically or mentally. As the poet says, "If I could put a notion in his head," but he can't. The two men, the two minds, will remain parallel, on opposite sides of a wall.
I find parallelism in the language as well as in the central image of the two men walking along a wall. I find it in phrasings like "To each the boulders that have fallen to each." "And some are loaves and some so nearly balls." "Walling in or walling out." I find it most centrally in "Good fences make good neighbors," whose neat parallelism contrasts in my mind with the redundancy, the tangled, circling syntax of "Something there is that doesn't love a wall."
The parallelisms in phrasing lead me to think of speech and language themselves as themes. I find many phrases like, "'I tell him," "He only says," "I'd rather he said it," "his father's saying," "He says again." The neighbor speaks "his father's saying" twice. The poet also speaks twice, and both their repetition...
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...rresponds to the poet's wayward imaginings, the walls-up to the control of that imagination.
Works Cited Frye, Northrop. Northrop Frye on Twentieth-Century Literature University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division (February 13, 2010)
Holland, Norman Norwood. The Brain of Robert Frost: A Cognitive Approach to Literature. Routledge (October 1988) Poirier, Richard. Robert Frost: The Work of Knowing Stanford University Press (April 1, 1990)
Gerber, Philip L. Robert Frost. Ed. Kenneth Eble. Boston: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1982. The. 124-125 Lentricchia, Frank.
Parallelism is briefly several parts of a sentence, that are expressed in similar grammatical form to show that the ideas are equal in importance. King states on page 4, paragraph 1,“...when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Linda Pavlovski and Scott T. Darga, vol. 106, Gale, 2001. 20th Century Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/KSZNPN102098467/LCO?u=schaumburg_hs&sid=LCO. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017. Originally published in CLA Journal, vol. 31, June 1988, pp.
in Twentieth- Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. The. Vol.
Mending Wall written by Robert Frost, describes the relationship between two neighbors and idea of maintaining barriers. Where one of them feels that there is no need of this wall, 'There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard.' On the other hand his neighbor remains unconvinced and follows inherited wisdom passed down to him by his father, 'Good fences make good neighbors.' They even kept the wall while mending it, this reflect that they never interact with each other, ?We keep the wall between us as we go?. Robert Frost has maintained this literal meaning of physical barriers but it does contain metaphor as representation of these physical barriers separating the neighbors and also their friendship.
The most famous writer of his time and still renowned today, Charles Dickens is a man that people do not know much about. The only real information that anyone knows about him is that he is an author that has published many famous books and stories, such as The Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol. What is not known about Dickens is that he was a poor person who lived during the Victorian Era (named after Queen Victoria) and was accountable for some of literature’s model characters. Unlike, many modern-day authors most of Charles Dickens’ work was released in a series of monthly magazines. This was customary back then, as opposed to releasing the entire novel at one time – this technique was used to keep the readers interesting by using cliffhangers (e.g. to be continued…). Dickens worked his way up from nothing; he went from being a poor child labor worker to becoming one of the most praised authors for his astounding, intricate plots as well as his distinct, realistic characters.
Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol.
“Some say the world will end in fire,/ Some say in ice./ From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favor fire./ But if it had to perish twice,/ I think I know enough of hate/ To say that for destruction ice/ Is also great/ And would suffice.” This poem by Robert Frost is an excellent example of how even though people tend to think that Frost’s poems are just fun easy to read poems, a lot of them actually have dark themes to them. The poem “Fire and Ice” quoted above is a poem all about death and his prefered way to die/ destroy the world. So, although the average reader will quote Robert Frost as being a poet of positivity, yet many of his poems actually point out the dark side of human existence.
The theme of the poem is about two neighbours who disagree over the need of a wall to separate their properties. Not only does the wall act as a divider in separating estates, it also acts as a barrier in the neighbours' friendship, separating them. For the neighbour with the pine trees, the wall is of great significance, as it provides a sense of security and privacy. He believes that although two people can still be friendly neighbours, some form of barrier is needed to separate them and 'wall in' the personal space and privacy of the individual. This is shown through his repeated saying, 'good fences make good neighbours' (line 27). The neighbour's property is a representation of his privacy and the wall acts as a barrier against intrusion.
“The Life and Times of Charles Dickens.” Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens. Ed. John O. Jordan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 1-15. Print.
"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.
Robert Lee Frost was a famous American poet who was always acknowledged for his vivid and unique writing style, which contributed tremendously into him becoming one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Throughout his life, Frost has written many amazing poems but like the majority of poets at that time, many of his poems from his early writings went unnoticed. He was known for following a very well organized structure for his writing, a great example for this would be: “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, which are two of Frost’s greatest pieces as they bring to the table all of his writing characteristics, ranging from the dominant figurative language that makes the poem vivid, to his flexible idealistic
Dickens became a newspaper writer and reporter in the late 1820's. He specialized in covering debates in Parliament, and also wrote feature articles. His work as a reporter sharpened his naturally keen ear for conversation and helped develop his skill in portraying his characters speach realistically. It also increased his ability to observe and to write swiftly and clearly. Dickens' first book, Sketches by Boz (1836) consisted of articles he wrote for the Monthly Magazine and the London Evening Chronicles.
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 simple on the surface. Although symbolism is used throughout, the three most significant symbols are: the wall, his neighbor, and Frost himself as the speaker. Analyzing each of these devices as well as how they harmonize with one another is necessary in order to appreciate what Frost was revealing about human behavior.
Richardson, Mark. The Ordeal of Robert Frost: The Poet and His Poetics. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1997. Print.