A widely accepted theme of "The Mending Wall
Mending Wall
"Mending Wall" is a poem by the twentieth century American poet Robert Frost. It opens Frost's second collection of poetry, North of Boston, published in 1914 by David Nutt, and it has become "one of the most anthologized and analyzed poems in modern literature".
What does the narrator say about mending the wall?
As they start mending the wall, the narrator engages in a conversation with his neighbour and asks why the wall is even needed. The poet says that something in nature doesn’t want a wall, to which his neighbour answers, “Good fences make good neighbours.”
How does the neighbor feel about the wall in the poem?
The wall seems practically and politically unnecessary to the speaker of the poem. He is of the opinion that walls separate people and harm their otherwise smooth relations. However, the neighbor has the view that walls strengthen and improve relationships because they allow people to treat each other fairly and prevent conflict.
What is the setting of “Mending Wall”?
The setting of “Mending Wall” is the site of the stone wall between the farms. The wall has been damaged. The two farms on either side of the wall belong to two hardworking farmers. One of them is the speaker of the poem. This location belongs to a rural area of New England. The two men are arguing about how the wall is broken.
What is the meaning of lines 37 to 46 of Mending Wall?
From lines 37 to 46 of ‘Mending Wall’ : Though all through the poem, the narrator wants to put his notion into his neighbor’s mind, the kind of imagination he makes to convince his neighbor about the existence of wall (s) sometimes also makes me think twice about the poet.
What does the neighbor symbolize in Mending Wall?
The neighbor could symbolize the narrator's distrust of society, since he shows that he would like to remain separated by the fence. The wall is normally put up as a security measure, protecting their property, for privacy and comfort but the wall also acts as a barrier to the relationship between the neighbours.
What kind of person is the Neighbour in Mending Wall?
The neighbour hides behind old sayings, and the speaker labels him "an old stone savage" who "moves in darkness" (lines 41-42). The neighbor is the type of man who blocks other people and possibilities out of his life, both figuratively and concretely.
What does good fences make good neighbors mean in the poem Mending Wall?
Robert Frost coined the phrase “good fences make good neighbors” in his 1914 poem “Mending Wall.” While the meaning in the poem may have been slightly more about 'turf protection,” it can also be applied to adding value to a home and property. Good fences can offer beauty, privacy and safety.
What is the view of the old Neighbour regarding the wall in Mending Wall?
Yet his neighbor insists on this task; it is a mindset that has been passed down to him from his own father, a belief that "good fences make good neighbors." He believes that the boundaries established by the wall fosters better relationships between the two men.
What is the difference between the speaker and his neighbor?
What is the difference between the speaker and his neighbor? Speaker wants the wall, neighbor does not.
Why does the speaker feel that the Neighbour lives in darkness?
As the speaker struggles between being a wall-builder and a wall-breaker, the neighbor “moves in darkness” because he cannot remove himself from this old practice. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
How would you describe the neighbor of the speaker?
1) Open-minded and rational. 2)Stubborn and fixed in his ways. 3) Reasoning but hard of hearing.
Why does the neighbor say that good fences?
Why does the neighbor say that "good fences make good neighbours" in "Mending Wall"? He is repeating what his father used to say.
What does the Neighbour reply when Frost asks why they need a wall?
What does the neighbor reply when Frost asks why they need a wall? "I will not go behind my father's saying." "Walls make for perfect neighbours." "Good fences make good neighbours."
How does the speaker's neighbor feel about the wall?
How does the speaker's neighbor feel about the wall? He sees it as a positive influence in human relationships. Which line from the poem best supports the answer to the previous question? "He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors."
What is the Neighbour growing in his orchard?
Ans.: The two neighbours in the poem are two farmers. One of them is the poet himself. He grows apple in his orchard and his neighbour grows pine.
What does the narrator go on to tell his Neighbour why according to him does he do this?
Answer. Answer: As the speaker struggles between being a wall-builder and a wall-breaker, the neighbor “moves in darkness” because he cannot remove himself from this old practice. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
What does the narrator say about the walls?
The narrator says that sometimes the wall is damaged by some careless hunters, who pull down the stones of the walls in search of rabbits to please their barking dogs.
What is the baseline meter of the poem "Mending Wall"?
The baseline meter of Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’ is although blank verse, some of the lines go beside the blank verse’s characteristic lock-step iambs, five abreast. The poet has made perfect use of five stressed syllables in each line of the poem, but he does extensive variation in the feet so that the natural speech -like quality of the verse can continue to be sustained. While the poem doesn’t have any stanza breaks, obvious end-rhymes, or rhyming patterns, yet a number of end-words (for example., wall, hill, balls, wall, and well sun, thing, stone, mean, line, and again or game, them, and him twice) share an assonance. Besides, the poem has internal rhymes, which are slanted and subtle. Moreover, there is no use of fancy words in the poem. All words are short and conversational. And this may be the reason why each word in ‘Mending Wall’ brings out perfect feel and sound by resonating so consummately.
Who wrote the poem "Mending Wall"?
About Mending Wall. Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’, which can also be read in full here, was published in 1914 by David Nutt. In modern literature, it is considered as one of the most analyzed and anthologized poems. In the poem, the poet is a New England farmer, who walks along with his neighbor in the spring season to repair the stone wall ...
What does the narrator say about the nature of things?
At the very outset, the poem takes you to the nature of things. Therefore, the narrator says something does exist in the nature that does not want a wall. He says man makes many walls, but they all get damaged and destroyed either by nature or by the hunters who search for rabbits for their hungry dogs.
What does the narrator say about mending the wall?
The poet says that something in nature doesn’t want a wall, to which his neighbour answers, “Good fences make good neighbours.”
What is the meaning of the poem "Mending Wall"?
‘Mending Wall’ is an all-time favourite poem by Robert Frost. It gives a broader and wiser perspective on boundaries and barriers. It also suggests that good fences are essential to maintain friendly relations with the neighbours.
What does the narrator tell his neighbour about the existence of the wall?
Throughout the poem, the narrator wants to make his neighbour understand, and the kind of imagination he makes to convince his neighbour about the existence of the wall are appealing, for example, in the lines where the narrator tells his neighbour that there is something like a non-human entity as elves that come and break the walls. Elves are tiny supernatural, mythological beings that are seen in folk tales. The narrator quickly changes his opinion when he logically explains nature’s power, which works against those walls and barriers.
Why are walls and fences important?
In reality, living in a civilized society, walls and boundaries help maintain privacy and also act as an obstacle for people like seemingly unsociable. We must maintain distance from our neighbours and respect their privacy as well as our privacy. Thus, fences and walls are essential.
Why was the poem "Mending Wall" written?
Mending Wall Analysis: Inspired by his wife, Elinor Miriam White, the poem ‘Mending Wall’ was written by Robert Frost to explore human relationships’ nature. According to the poet, there are two types of people, one who wants walls and others who don’t. The poet was born on 26th March 1874 in San Francisco and was interested in reading ...
What does the narrator say about the walls?
In lines 1 to 9, the narrator says that something mysterious does not want walls and permanently destroys the walls, making a gap for two people to pass through it quickly. It either gets damaged by some hunter, who pulls down the walls of the walls searching for rabbits to please their barking dogs or by other means.
What is the meaning of line 22 to 36 in the book?
From lines 22 to 36, the narrator tries to make his neighbour understand that they probably don’t need a wall as his neighbour only has pine trees and an apple tree which cannot trespass into the speaker’s property. There is no chance of offending as they don’t also have any cows at their homes.
Why does the neighbor say walls strengthen relationships?
However, the neighbor has the view that walls strengthen and improve relationships because they allow people to treat each other fairly and prevent conflict. According to him, walls make people stay in their limits. The poem itself doesn’t decide who is correct. The poem ultimately allows its readers to decide for themselves which vision of the human community is most persuasive and livable.
What was the literary context of the mending wall?
Literary Context. When “Mending Wall” was published, it was the height of modernism, a broad and complicated literary theory. It was the time when literature responded to the dramatic hype of industrialization and urbanization of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
What does the poem "The Wall" mean?
The poem starts with the speaker who talks about a force that doesn’t like walls and breaks it again and again. This force causes the frozen water to swell under a wall. It also causes the wall’s upper stones to fall off its top in the warmth of the sun. It creates gaps in the wall so big that two people can walk through them shoulder-to-shoulder in the same direction.
What is the appeal of the poem "Mending Wall"?
An appealing aspect of “Mending Wall” is the addition of a sense of mystery and loneliness by Frost. The poem begins as a quest to find the identity of the wall-destroyer. It ends in a meditation on the worth of tradition and boundaries.
What is on the speaker's side of the wall?
On his neighbor’s side of the wall, there’s nothing but only pine trees. On the speaker’s side of the wall, there is an apple orchard. The speaker says that his apple trees are never going to cross their limit. They are not likely to cross the wall and eat his neighbor’s pine cones.
What is Frost's relationship with modernism?
Frost’s relationship with modernism and “Mending Wall” has been a topic of hot debate among scholars for many years. Many critics dismissed this poem as out of touch and even anti-modernist. The environment shown in “Mending Wall” is far from the busy cities of early twentieth-century America.
How many syllables are in the poem "Mending Wall"?
“Mending Wall” is written in blank verse. It is a form of poetry with unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter. It has five pairs of syllables per line. Each pair contains an unstressed syllable that is followed by a stressed syllable.
What is the poem "Mending Wall" about?
At its heart, “Mending Wall” is a poem about borders—the work it takes to maintain them and the way they shape human interactions. The speaker and the speaker's neighbor spend much of the poem rebuilding a wall that divides their properties. As they do so, they debate the function of the wall and how it affects their relationship.
Where is the mending wall set?
“Mending Wall” is set in rural New England (it was even first published in a book called North of Boston ). Its two characters, the speaker and the neighbor, likely live in an agricultural community—though whether either is a farmer remains unclear. The reader does know for certain that neither raises cattle: “Here there are no cows,” the speaker announces.
How many words are in the poem "Mending Wall"?
Unlock all 396 words of this analysis of Enjambment in “Mending Wall,” and get the poetic device analyses for every poem we cover.
How many words are in the line analysis of Mending Wall?
Unlock all 387 words of this analysis of Lines 43-45 of “Mending Wall,” and get the Line-by-Line Analysis for every poem we cover.
How many lines are there in the mending wall?
"Mending Wall" does not follow a particular poetic form. It isn't a sonnet, for example, or a villanelle. Instead, it is simply a single stanza of 46 lines, written in blank verse.
When was the Mending Wall written?
“Mending Wall” was written in the early 1910s, in a transitional period in American life. Following a century of mass immigration and industrialization, the United States had become a substantially more diverse and populous place than it had been at its founding—and a substantially more urban place as well. The gentlemen farmers who founded American democracy had been supplanted by fractious urban political parties—alongside populist rural political movements. Further, the country had expanded from the Atlantic coastline all the way to the Pacific in recent memory: the frontier had been officially declared closed in 1890.
Who is the speaker of the mending wall?
The speaker of “Mending Wall” is a person, likely a man (though, to be clear, this is not ever stated in the poem), who lives in rural New England on a farm with an " apple orchard ." The speaker's farm seems to be relatively remote: the speaker mentions having only one neighbor, and their properties are separated by a stone wall that must be repaired every spring.
Mending Wall Analysis Style and Form
Detailed Mending Wall Analysis
- Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends 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, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean…
Final Comments on Mending Wall Analysis
- ‘Mending Wall’ is an all-time favourite poem by Robert Frost. It gives a broader and wiser perspective on boundaries and barriers. It also suggests that good fences are essential to maintain friendly relations with the neighbours. This is a possible way by which we can have a peaceful and stable understanding with our neighbours. It also, in a way,...