The 1914 “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost is a poem in blank verse that involves a stone wall dividing the speaker’s property from his neighbor’s. The speaker and his neighbor meet during Spring to walk along the wall and jointly make repairs. Just like much of Frost’s work, the poem invites a span of standard interpretations (Frost).The speaker, who’s a progressive individual, is reluctant to the idea of having the wall. He claims that walls are for those with cows, not for those with just apples and pines (Phillips). However, his neighbor insists on the past folly of having walls for the sake of walls, “Good fences make a good neighbor,” (Phillips). Frost uses the various poetic techniques and styles to show how the two opinion on walls progress, describing how the speaker struggles to convince his neighbor to let go of the adage:” Good fences make good neighbors,” (Kemp).The poem recalls various themes that influence in understanding the core argument which is individuals with contradicting life opinions can still establish a defining relationship (Kemp).
Throughout the poem, the speaker dominates the conversation as he’s the one who seems to be going through a rebellious phase. He thinks that having the stone wall is more old-fashioned and unnecessary (Phillips). However, he picks it's out on a more revolutionary person who only speaks five words. In the beginning, the speaker gets us all aggravated about the wall, how reckless hunters damage it, and parts fall off, leaving the owners to repair it every Spring. The complaints help us understand the reason behind the topic “mending wall” which was a yearly ritual of mending the stone wall. The poem seems to be directed towards building up the title until the speaker throws a coerce into the whole poem. All of a sudden the speaker starts to undermine the wall, claiming that it's unnecessary and old-fashioned. He considers of sharing his revolutionary thoughts with his neighbor, hoping he would convince him to reconsider the wall. The speaker juggles through his stubborn neighbor’s head trying to understand his need for the wall. He questions of the annual ritual task of mending the wall. At the end of the poem, the speakers feeling about the wall remains unclear, but for the neighbor, it's simply:” Good fences make good neighbors.”
Mending walls may be a poem without rhyme, but it takes an exciting foundation as it grows. The blank verse poem loosely applies an iambic pentameter structure, five feet or ten syllables per line. “And makes gaps even two can pass abreast,” (Frost). Frost use of blank verse gives each line in the poem an individual sound and rhythm. The way that he applies his diction and delivery gives certain lines great rhythm. There’s also the use of repetition in the poem. Frost repeats two lines in the poem which are: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” and “Good fences make good neighbors,” (Frost). Repetition of the lines and also some phrases are used as “opinion emphasis.” The two characters in the poem share a different point of views, and with the repetition, it is easy for the reader to identify and relate.
Frost’s “Mending Wall” has applied several literary devices ranging from symbolism meter to imagery. The devices demonstrate the metamorphic “wall” that people place on their relations with others (Kemp). The wall is the key symbol in the poem which separates the speaker and the neighbor and at the same time unites them every Spring. The mention of the term ‘wall’ makes readers visualize the various barriers that they place in their homes such as gates, fences which symbolizes the barriers that we place in our lives that divide our relationships with others. From the proverb, “Good fences make good neighbors,” the wall takes the role of a canvas upon which ideas generated from relationships among people are painted. Further, the poem being in blank verse structure bring a rock wall like visual presentation. Having no stanzas and imperfect lines gives a visual impression of a rock wall with ‘gaps’ that need to be repaired (Frost).Further, Frost applies various sound devices that create exciting rhythm in the blank verse poem. For instance, in line two, “That sends the frozen swells under it,” frost uses alliteration as well as inline forty, “old-stone savage” (Frost). Assonance also appears on various lines such as inline ten “No one has seen them made or heard them made,” (Frost). The repetition of the vowel sounds gives the line a great rhythm which breaks the blank verse nature.
The mending walls like many other of Robert Frost’s poems engage in poetic form that is simultaneously mended and broken to make them his own. Two lines can summarize the general meaning of the poem: “Something there is that does not love a wall” and “Good fences make good neighbors,” (Frost). From these two lines, it is clear that the poem was driving towards the various barriers placed by people to divide their relationships with others. The “wall” is metamorphosed to represent the fences and blocks that may not be necessary and at the same time essential for survival regarding security. The speaker is against having the wall and goes on claiming that even nature disliked the wall which implied his urge to promote human interaction. However, the speaker still shows up every Spring to repair the wall, an indication that people do yearn to familiarize themselves with people around them yet they are regressive or unwilling to allow this to happen (Kemp).
When I read “Mending Walls,” I could easily relate it to Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers.” The poems may have used distinct poetic devices and literary styles, but they both dig in into human traditions and way of life. Also, the first lines of both poems act as a summary of the themes and story of the general poem. For “Mending Walls,” two individuals hold a different perception of the wall that divides their properties while “Hope is the thing with feathers” is an expression of Dickinson perception of hope. One thing that is clear in either poem is that humans have certain traditions that make them behave or live in a certain way. The much that people relate to hope being always there in their darkest days is the same as to how they keep their beliefs on the proverb “Good fences make good neighbors (Kemp). According to (Phillips), traditions play a significant role in the human way of living. Hence, Frost’s poem tried to explain why at times ‘walls’ are or are not relevant to human relationships.
Works Cited
Frost, Robert. The collected poems of Robert Frost. Chartwell Books, 2016.
Kemp, John C. Robert Frost, and New England: the poet as a regionalist. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Phillips, Siobhan K. "Robert Frost, and Tradition." (2015).
