More handpicked essays just for you.
Summary of mending wall by robert frost
Summary of mending wall by robert frost
Summary of mending wall by robert frost
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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. 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.
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?’
The person in the poem wants to be left alone, like an island, or a rock. In the second stanza, he says "I've built a wall, a fortress deep and mighty." He has built a mental block to all outsiders, and he compares this to an inpenetrable wall. Inpenetrable walls keep unwanted things out: bad feelings, love, etc. Then, in the third line of this stanza, he says "I have no need of friendship - friendship causes pain, It's laughter and loving I disdain." He said that he doesn't want friendship because it just causes pain, and that the laughter and loving he hates or despises. He wants to be left alone, like...
The speaker questions many things in relation to the wall that is being rebuilt. For example, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”, is used to question what despises the wall’s presence. The speaker goes on to discuss the earth’s swells that make gaps in the wall, as well as the hunters, “not leaving a stone on a stone,” (l. 7) merely to please the yelping dogs with a rabbit. In line thirty, the speaker questions, “Why do they make good neighbors” because he believes that the wall is interfering with a possible relationship with his neighbor. Another key question asked is “What I was walling in or walling out,” to show that there is no difference when the wall is construct or not, both neighbor’s tasks a...
"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.
Wall’s are blockages used to isolate a human beings wants and feelings. Privacy should be respected by all although offensiveness was not intended by either neighbor. The speaker’s logic was that the wall blocking the properties were absurd. The essential purpose of the poem is the desire by one neighbor to have a better relationship with the other neighbor.
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 speaker says, "He is all pine and I am apple orchard." (line 24. pg. 952). The speaker is more imaginative, playful and sociable then his neighbor. He says, "Oh, just another kind of outdoor game." in response to mending the wall with the neighbor and "We use a spell to make them balance" (line 18 and line 21. pg. 952). He also jokingly states to his neighbor, “My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines” (line 25-24 pg. 952). Although the speaker eventually does not visualize the purpose of the wall separating the two properties, to satisfy his need for con...
The wall was probably built with practicality in mind, yet Frost highlights the ambiguous perception it may create in someone who is being “walled out.” Many people are known to “build walls instead of bridges” and this is what can ruin many relationships. When a person is more inviting and social, they would be more inclined to “build bridges,” but people who are enclosed and private tend to “build walls.” It is often difficult for the person on the other end to interpret the intent of the “builder,” complicating the interaction. The “Mending Wall,” suggests a generally good relationship between the speaker/narrator and his neighbor.
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...
In the poem “Mending Wall”, the speaker and his neighbor’s friendship are damaged. They have both physical and emotional barriers. In lines 40-42 he says, “before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or out, and to whom I was like to give offence.” It is evident that the speaker does not like this idea, and this is both a physical and emotional barrier. In lines 10-14 the speaker says, “The gaps I mean, no one has seen them made or heard them made, but at spring mending-time we find them there.”
My first reading of the poem has left me with many unanswered questions. The beginning lines were very confusing. I couldn’t quite tell if what Frost was saying was meant to be literal or not. Much of the first half is unclear to me. But by the second half I think I see more of the story. I do like the language Frost uses to describe the seasons and how they lead to the main character asking for the wall to be taken down. At this point I think that the story is about two men owning two plots of land and one wants to keep a wall up dividing them and closing them off from each other while the other wants to open the gap. I still don’t see much of the true meaning behind the story. But at the end of the story the main character says the neighbor repeats that his father said by saying, “good fences make good neighbors”. The second reading of the poem is slightly easier. I think I am beginning to understand some the metaphors that Frost is using. In line ten Frost s...
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
Walls separate people, making who would normally be a good friend a complete stranger. Take for example, the wall from Robert Frost's short story, The Mending Wall. The narrator is completely alienated from his neighbor, who he would consider a friend, but with the wall set so firmly between them, and their annual rebuilding, there is little hope they will become friends. Or perhaps the Berlin Wall would serve a better example. The Berlin Wall cut the entire city almost in half, and because of this, some people, including brothers & sisters, were separated for 20 plus years. The only thing stopping them from seeing each other, and the only thing preventing the narrator from having a healthy relationship with his neighbor, was a
“We meet to walk the line and set the wall between us once again”, the theme of “Mending Walls” is friendship and betrayal and trustworthy, because they are friendly to each other and are good friends and they trust each other but they also fight like some neighbors do about stupid things like oh he put something up and its almost touching my property line and I don’t like it or he put something up that is blocking a view and I don’t like it so let’s fight about it. This poem takes place in Eastern U.S. The tone of this is calm and co-operative, because this poem is basically about the two farmers who come together after so many years to repair this stone wall that breaks down and it separates their two orchards because one farmer’s father always did it so he does it as a tradition to remember his father, but the other farmer thinks it’s a dumb idea and it’s just a waste of time because his orchard won’t go into his. How this relates to everyday life is because there are a lot of farmers and neighbors that fight about land, and there are a lot of people that have traditions or do things to remember someone. A couple ideas are, and makes gaps even two can pass abreast, which means people can pass through it. Where they have left not one stone on stone but they would have the rabbit out of hiding to please the yelping dogs, ...
Each year the two neighbors meet annually at the adjoining wall. Both men walk the length of the wall to assess and repair the year’s wear and tear. Frost’ writing style invites the reader to probe the need for communication or, more precisely, the way people put up walls to create barriers between themselves. The visual imagery of the wall helps the reader to shift from just seeing the wall as a basic, natural setting to an abstract consideration of human behavior. In the first stanza of the poem it establishes the sense of mystery, a true color of atmosphere, “something” that does not want the wall to be there. Whatever it is, it’s a powerful force and it creates a “ frozen ground swell” that disrupts the wall from underneath, forcing stones on top to tumble off.