Frosts Mending Wall Essay - 960 Words

Robert Frosts Mending Wall represents two opposing ideas through its dialogue between two neighbors. The narrator represents a newer way of thinking while his neighbor embodies an older mindset. In the poem the two neighbors are repairing a wall or fence that separates their property line. Although neither of the two men has anything that could cross the fence, the young man has apple trees and the old farmer has pines. The wall has been broken down by the winter that sends the frozen ground swell under it and by the work of hunters (Frost 1177-1178). The two men work together to repair the wall, a task that seems unnecessary to the young narrator. The older neighbor cannot fathom the thought of not having a wall or boundary to†¦show more content†¦The man cannot understand why his neighbor cannot move beyond the past and what he was taught. In Carol Frosts article, Frosts Way of Speaking, she says, The first person speaker in the poem wishes his wall-mending partner would s peak for himself and think for himself. (Carol Frost 125). The narrator sees no reason for a wall to separate him from his neighbor, he points out several reasons the wall served no purpose to his neighbor. Neither men have anything that would harm the other, neither have presented an offense to the other, and no matter how many times they mend the wall, it will still be broken down again. The old neighbor, however, does not budge on his demand that the wall be repaired and continue to stand between them. Good fences make good neighbors (Frost 1178). This line is repeated several times in Mending Wall. This phrase is the embodiment of what the old neighbor believes. His father told him that good fences made good neighbors, and he stands firm in his belief in the truth of that statement. His young partner seems to believe that the only reason the man believes in his statement is because his Father told him to or because it is embedded into his way of thinking. William G. ODonnell points out the significance in the old farmer being compared to `an old-stone savage moving about in the darkness,Show MoreRelated Working Together in Robert Frosts Mending Wall Essay869 Words   |  4 PagesWorking Together in Robert Frosts Mending Wall The air is cool and crisp. Roosters can be heard welcoming the sun to a new day and a woman is seen, wearing a clean colorful wrap about her body and head, her shadow casting a lone silhouette on the stone wall. The woman leans over to slide a piece of paper into one of the cracks, hoping her prayer will be heard in this city of Jerusalem. Millions are inserting their prayers into the walls of Japanese temples, while an inmate in one of aRead MoreRobert Frosts Mending Wall1183 Words   |  5 PagesRobert Frosts Mending Wall In his poem Mending Wall, Robert Frost presents to us the thoughts of barriers linking people, communication, friendship and the sense of security people gain from barriers. His messages are conveyed using poetic techniques such as imagery, structure and humor, revealing a complex side of the poem as well as achieving an overall light-hearted effect. Robert Frost has cleverly intertwined both a literal and metaphoric meaning into the poem, using the mending of a tangibleRead MoreAnalyzing Robert Frosts Mending Wall1475 Words   |  6 PagesAnalyzing Robert Frost’s â€Å"Mending Wall† Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California on March 26th in 1874. Robert Frost s personal life was filled with grief and insecurities. When he was 11, his father died of tuberculosis, his mother died of cancer years after, and his sister was confined into a mental institution where she also later died. Elinor and Robert Frost had six children together. One of their sons died of cholera, one son committed suicide, one of their daughters died afterRead MoreAnalysis Of Robert Frosts Mending Wall995 Words   |  4 Pages Mending Wall† is a poem by the twentieth century American poet Robert Frost. Whenever we learn about poetry in school, Robert Frost has always been one of my favorite poets (along with Charlotte Brontà «). Poems like The Road Not Taken† and Nothing Gold Can Stay† were always my favorites. I remember reading Mending Wall† sometime freshman or sophomore year, and it had intrigued me. We hadnt looked to deep into the poem as much as I would have liked. All of his poems have thisRead More Robert Frosts Mending Wall Essay535 Words   |  3 PagesRobert Frosts Mending Wall Traditions have always had a substantial effect on the lives of human beings, and always will. Robert Frost uses many unique poetic devices in his poem â€Å"Mending Wall,† as well as many shifts in the speaker’s tone to develop his thoughts on traditions. The three predominant tones used are those of questioning, irony and humor. The speaker questions many things in relation to the wall that is being rebuilt. For example, â€Å"Something there is that doesn’tRead MoreRobert Frosts Mending Wall1210 Words   |  5 PagesAnalysis Mending Wall, By Robert Frost In Mending Wall, Robert Frost uses a series of contrasts, to express his own conflict between tradition and creation. By describing the annual ritual of two neighbors repairing the wall between them, he contrasts both neighbors through their ideas and actions, intertwining the use of parallelism and metaphors, in order to display his own innermost conflict as a poet; the balance between what is to be said and what is to be left to the reader, the balanceRead More Analysis of Robert Frosts Mending Wall Essay1173 Words   |  5 PagesRobert Frost’s Mending Wall In his poem Mending Wall, Robert Frost presents to us the thoughts of barriers linking people, communication, friendship and the sense of security people gain from barriers. His messages are conveyed using poetic techniques such as imagery, structure and humor, revealing a complex side of the poem as well as achieving an overall light-hearted effect. Robert Frost has cleverly intertwined both a literal and metaphoric meaning into the poem, using the mending of a tangibleRead MoreAnalysis of Frosts Mending Wall Essay704 Words   |  3 Pagesdamage of the wall. When he refers to something there â€Å"that doesn’t love a wall,† he is referring to a tree, which by nature is consistently causing damage to the wall. As the roots of the tree grow, it causes the frozen ground beneath the wall to swell, and â€Å"spills the upper boulders in the sun.† Clearly this tree has a problem with the wall, and yet the speaker and his neighbor continue to fix it every year. The speaker and the neighbor have two very different opinions about the wall. The speakerRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Robert Frosts Mending Wall1031 Words   |  5 PagesTo build a wall   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Mending Wall† is a poem written in Robert Frost’s second book of poetry, â€Å"North of Boston†. This poem tells a story about the so called crucial part of every piece of property, a fence, and the advantages and disadvantages that seem to come with having a fence in your property.This poem involves two neighbors who hold opposite answers as to weather the wall should stay or go. Though the speaker presents himself as an enlightened person and his neighbor as a foolish prisonerRead More The Themes of Robert Frosts Mending Wall Essay2147 Words   |  9 PagesRobert Frosts Mending Wall One of the major themes of Frosts Mending Wall is the cycle of the seasons. Several phrases refer to the seasons, particularly in a repetitive, cyclic way: spring mending-time, frozen ground-swell, once again, spring is the mischief in me. Another theme is parallelism or the lack of it. Sometimes this parallelism takes a physical form, associated with the wall, as we imagine the two men walking parallel paths: We meet to walk the line. We keep the wall between