mending wall by robert frost analysis?

Question

Mending Wall
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.
I let my neighbour 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:
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 neighbours."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbours? 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.
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 neighbours."
Robert Frost

can anyone tell me what this poem means and the rhyme scheme?

Answer 1

An Analysis of Robert Frost's Mending Wall





Mending Wall, by Robert Frost portrays the routines of two neighbours who are constantly mending the fence, or wall, that separates their properties. If a stone is missing form the fence, you can bet that the two men are out there putting it back together piece by piece.



Frost's description of every detail in this poem is quite interesting, very pleasant to read, and extremely imaginable. He leaves the reader to decide for himself what deductions he is to make from the reading. On one hand, Frost makes literal implications about what the two men are doing. For instance, they are physically putting the stones back, one by one. Their dedication, commitment, and constant drive shines through when reading how persistence these men seem about keeping the wall intact. Quite the contrary however, is the inferences that something even deeper is going on. There is a sharing experience taking place here. Indeed, by labouring so hard, each man is experiencing physical repercussions, but they are also using this time as a "meet and greet" period.



We can gather from the beginning of the poem that the wall has many forces that keeps it in shambles. For instance, Frost writes;

"...that sends the frozen ground swell under it and spills the upper boulders in the sun...", and "I have come after them (hunters) and made repair where they have left not one stone on a stone..."



The man and his neighbour don't seem to have time for anything else, for it sounds as if they are constantly making repairs. Is there a reason for this?



It is important to note that not only are these men completing a manly task, but they are also "building" some type of relationship. If this were not an issue, the neighbour would not repeat



"Good fences make good neighbors."

Answer 2

Mending Wall Analysis

Answer 3

‘Mending Wall’ by Robert Frost



‘Mending Wall’ is perhaps one of the most widely quoted poems by Frost. It was included in his collection of poems, ‘North of Boston’ which was published in 1914. The poem can be regarded as a dramatic lyric or dramatic monologue. Every spring, the speaker in the poem, presumably the poet himself and his neighbour, an old New England farmer walk along the stone wall between their respective properties to assess and repair the damage done to the wall every year, seemingly by harsh weather and hunters.



Each farmer picks up the boulders that have fallen to his side and places them back on the wall but being of uneven shapes and sizes, they do not remain in their place and fall off repeatedly. So much so, that the whole exercise of trying to make the boulders balance seems meaningless and “just another kind of outdoor game,/One on a side.”



The speaker is of the view that the reason the wall has “gaps even two can pass abreast” is that there is a mysterious force at work that simply “doesn’t love a wall.” In contrast to the speaker who is young, lively, energetic and with a flexible mould of mind who feels that a boundary line between the two neighbours is unneeded and unnecessary, his neighbour seems to have a deep-seated, blind faith in the value of walls and fences. He does not care to explain his belief and instead, stonily asserts his father’s words, “Good fences make good neighbours.” The younger man, who feels that boundary walls serve no other purpose besides creating differences and divisions between human beings, avers, “There where it is, we do not need the wall:/He is all pine and I am apple orchard...” He assures the older man rather playfully that he would confine himself to his own apple orchard and would not allow his apple trees to reach beyond to the pine trees that come under his friend’s territory. The older man responds with confidence that comes through experience and conviction. He asserts that it is necessary for boundary lines to exist. They paradoxically ensure a healthy relationship between neighbours.



The speaker questions this view and attempts to plant a different idea in his neighbour’s mind. He wants to know why they need a wall when neither of them has any cows. While he is not averse to the idea of a wall between them, he wants to be convinced about the absolute necessity of one and what he “was walling in or walling out”. He want to know exactly what harm would be caused if no wall was constructed.



The older farmer, however, is a traditionalist and is not at all prepared to change his views and opinions. He goes on repeating his inherited opinion, “Good fences make good neighbours”.



To the speaker’s inquiring and receptive mind, his neighbour’s unthinking adherence to his father’s saying is a blinkered, ignorant and primitive view. The speaker says of his neighbour, “He moves in darkness as it seems to me,/Not of woods only and the shade of trees.....” However, the speaker’s views are also primitive in some respect because he seems to be in sympathy with some elemental spirit in nature that denies all walls, divisions and boundaries. It is implied that there is some supernatural power at work in Nature – “......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.....”



The difference of opinion between the speaker and his neighbour lays bare the issue, which within their world is the simple matter of whether or not it is worthwhile to maintain the unnecessary wall in defiance of nature’s persistent attempt to tear it down. On a deeper and more profound level, one can hear a clash of two forces: the spirit of revolt, which challenges tradition, and the spirit of restraint, which insists that conventions must be upheld, built up and continually rebuilt as a matter of principle.



The wall symbolises all man-made barriers suggesting the divisions between nations, classes, economic, racial and religious groups. While the poet may seem to be sympathetic towards the progressive thinker who seeks to spread the spirit of brotherhood and tolerance, the poem leads its readers to make a choice between the views of the speaker and those of his Yankee ( an inhabitant of New England) neighbour. It poses the question to the reader as to which of the two is the more desirable: the need to tear down the barriers which discriminate and isolate individuals from each other, or, the need to be practical and admit that distinctions and limitations are necessary for human beings if they are to maintain mutual goodwill. Frost does not really provide an answer and the attempt to wrest one from his poem would falsify his meaning. It is not his purpose to convey a message or give his readers a lesson in human relations. He has simply presented a problem and has explored the paradoxical issues involved in it.



Dramatic lyric or monologue: A literary, usually verse composition in which a single character or speaker addresses a silent listener and often delivers a speech or expresses his views in relation to a significant situation or event.



New England: a region in the northeastern corner of the United States largely inhabited by farmers in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Frost’s family was also from New England. Apart from being a poet, Frost bought and developed several farms and so understood the rigid mindset of the New England farmer.