Mending Wall
By Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963)
Introduction and Appreciation
"Mending Wall", is one of the most widely recognized poem of Robert Frost . It is a monologue _one person dramatic speech. The speaker is a young man , (the poet himself) and the lyric is an expression of his views and attitudes. The second character is the poet's neighbor, an old farmer , he does not speak even a single word , but we know of his view and attitude , from what the speaker says about him .
The speaker and his neighbor get together every spring to repair the stone wall between their properties. The neighbor , an old New England farmer , seems to have a deep seated faith in the value of walls and fences . Mending Wall describes a farmer's pride in the wisdom passed down to him by his father and the poet also explores how blindly he follow tradition.
" Good fences make good neighbors ."
The speaker is of the opposite opinion . As he points out :
"There where it is we do not need the wall
He is all pine and I am apple orchard."
To the speaker the father's saying of his neighbor suggest his narrowness and ignorance .
"" He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
In short , the poem represents two opposite attitudes towards life . Both are represented by two opposite type of characters _ one young and progressive and the other older and conservative.
Explanation:-
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,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
First stanza (line 1-11) :
The poet tells us in the first lines that there is some invisible and mysterious force that breaks the wall and bring it down every year. The poet himself suggests that powerful and unseen force is nature. He thinks that destructive force is frost in the ground. The frozen ground swells and the wall falls down. The huge pieces of stone of which the wall is made up get heated in the sun. they expand and fall down. The gaps between the stones are wide that two persons can easily pass through them.
Then the poet refers to the damage done by rabbit hunters. Hunters remove stones from the wall to help their dogs to find and catch rabbits. Poet suggests that there is some mysterious force at work in nature which does not love a wall. Nature is against walls and boundaries.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
Second stanza ( line 12-22 )
In this part of the poem the " old-fashioned" farmer meet and decide to built/repair the wall which separates their fields and gardens ( properties). The speaker and his neighbor spend the day in replacing fallen stones, each picking up the boulders (stones) that have fallen to his side.
" we keep the wall between us as we go ", the speaker and his neighbor remain separated and isolated, while they are performing their wok ( mending the wall) together but they do not actually assist each other. The speaker says that some stones are uneven , some are round and flat, so it is difficult to fix them on the wall.
The speaker says that building of wall is not only difficult task/work but it is also "insignificant" and useless as " just another game". The speaker is fed up with performing or playing this foolish game every year.
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Third stanza (line 23-35):
The speaker says that the building of wall is unnecessary. Both of them have trees on their boundaries, the speaker suggest to his neighbor in a funny way that his apple tree will not eat fruit or seeds from his pine tree. The neighbor replies briefly to this humorous argument.
" Good fences make good neighbors". If they keep distance, so they can be good neighbors and will have good relationship with each other. For the neighbor, there is moral principal behind mending the walls.
" Spring season is the mischief in me". The speaker admits that the season of spring makes him mischief and he wants to tease his neighbor by suggesting opposite opinion. The speaker suggests to his neighbor that fence may be necessary where there are cows or other animals which cause harm. But they (walls) are unnecessary where there are no such animals. The speaker suggests to his neighbor that they might upset something (nature) by building up the wall once again. An unknown force (nature) will put it down once again like every year. It came down and we built it.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
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."
Fourth stanza (line 36-46):
In these lines, the speaker again says that wall is unnecessary, because there is something that does not like/want the wall. There is mysterious force in nature at work against walls and boundaries. The speaker says that " I could say 'Elves' to him". This mysterious force in nature works against the wall. The farmer is busy in his work, bringing stone and fixing them. The farmer is quiet and does not involve himself in argument. The speaker thinks that his neighbor is uneducated savage. He realizes that his neighbor is influenced by tradition, he lives in the shadow of the past. The neighbor appears to the speaker like "an old stone savage armed" when he is busy in arranging stone.
" He moves in darkness as it seems to me". The darkness is symbolic, it is the darkness of ignorance. The speaker is amused by the simplicity of his neighbor, because he speaks very little. The neighbor only repeats the saying or proverb of his father.
"Good fences make good neighbors.", yet there is wisdom in the proverb. Respectful distance between neighbors, friend is important for best relationship.
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