IOC mending wall

This passage is poem “mending wall” from the book entitled “North of Boston” written by Robert Frost in the
early 20th century. Mending wall resides as a classic example of the Robert Frost’s literary skills and ability to
be able to instill insights of deeper explorations into obscure and simple language. The poem’s introspective
nature is complimented by the symbolic representations that inhibit a deeper, metaphorical reflection on social
boundaries and division. The poem Mending Wall discusses the story of two neighbors, whose houses are
separated by a wall. The wall mysteriously breaks down – most prominently in the season of spring. No matter
how hard the narrator and his neighbor try, the wall will end up breaking due to “something out there”. The
narrator further elaborates on the futility of the wall, since there is nothing that it truly separates. Nonetheless,
there is a belief in his neighbor that “good wall makes good neighbors”. Thus, the narrator is uncertain of the
true reason of the existence of the wall, however, under his neighbor’s influence, he tries to patch it together.
Despite the deceptively simplistic premise, the strong themes of alienation and loneliness, custom and tradition
and order and disorder develop an enticing and layered dialogue that highlights the poem as a timeless piece of
Frost’s early career.

The poem begins with the use of personification, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” The narrator
uses the word ‘something’ in place of ‘someone’, alluding to the fact that the entity he is referring to is not a
person, in which he implies that the entity is against the construction of a wall, using a ‘wall’ as a metaphor
for both physical and mental barriers. Then the author moves onto to further describing the entity in greater
detail, “That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it.” Using this line, the author makes it clear that the entity he
was talking about is nature. The nature breaks the wall because it doesn’t want the wall to stay there.

Then the author talks about how hunters are another reason for breaking down of the wall “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. However,
unlike nature which is characterized as having disdain for the wall perhaps due to the construct imposing upon
its boundaries, the hunters seem to have different intentions. “But they would have rabbit out of hiding, to please
the yelping dogs.” The narrator exclaims that the hunters destroy the wall with the intention of hunting for prey,
the hunters are further depicted to be quite self-interested as despite the beckons of the narrator, the hunters do
not repair the wall after destroying it. This disparity of intention creates a contrast between the hunters and
nature, in which even the narrator seems to express empathy for the entity that destroys the wall whereas he
expresses frustration with the hunters for consistently damaging the wall due to their self-interest and disregard
for the narrator.

Then the author introduces his neighbor. The neighbor and the narrator seem to share a disjointed relationship,
only meeting to rebuild the wall.” 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.” The narrator clarifies that they keep the wall in between when they do
the mending job. Using metaphor in lines fifteen and sixteen to compare the shape of boulders to that of a loaf
of bread and a ball, perhaps being a metaphor to describe people and the immense variation of people and their
intentions which makes it difficult to bring them together. Further metaphorical comparisons are brought up in
line twenty, as the narrator compares the mending of the wall to an outdoor game. This comparison provides
contextual clarity as the speaker likens the whole process of mending to that of a game, he seems to have found
an unconventional form of enjoyment through building the wall rather than treating it as a duty.

“It comes to little more: 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.” The narrator uses personification
to indicate that the wall is utterly unnecessary as he exclaims that his neighbour is ‘all pine’ and he is ‘apple
orchard’ showing that his side of nature will never cause harm to his neighbor’s side hence proving how pointless
the wall is However the neighbor disagrees saying the old proverb ‘Good fences make good neighbors The
narrator questions the neighbor’s philosophy, questioning why boundaries strengthen the relationship between
neighbors saying that if was supposed to build a wall he would need a proper reason and purpose to build it. In
line 41, the neighbor is compared in appearance to an ‘old-stone savage armed’. The poet uses simile to compare
the appearance of the neighbor with an armed old-stone savage. This is also symbolic in suggesting that the
neighbor’s thoughts and ideas were archaic. Furthermore, the narrator doesn’t see a reason to keep rebuilding a
wall but he still does it because he gets a sense of personal satisfaction from it.

The poem concludes with revelation of the neighbour’s saying being not of his own, but his fathers which he
adheres to. The neighbour’s sentiments seem to be founded upon a sense of traditionalism and the narrator
highlights a metaphorical ‘darkness’ that resides within the neighbour, perhaps serving as the genesis for the
development of isolation that the neighbour desires. The use of repetition to highlight the neighbour’s proverb
and the reference to the entity that is not fond of the existence of the wall serves as an interesting contrast as
these are the only two lines that are repeated, perhaps to show that the neighbour’s philosophy clashes with the
desires of nature itself.

In conclusion Mending wall , Through this poem, Frost has tried to explore the way people isolate themselves
physically and emotionally by building barriers like fences to derive sense of safety. It is believed to be built
upon frost’s relationship with his neighbor. The poem is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter or blank verse
with the majority of lines containing ten syllables and its written in first person perspective and in a continuous
fashion rather than being divided into stanzas , this is to enhance the informal conversational tone and giving it
the effect of an elaborate artistic piece.