Mending Wall - A poem by Robert Frost

Robert Frost - Mending Wall

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it
And spills the upper boulder in the sun,
And make 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 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 outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There were 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 offense.
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 though of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Added: on November 4th, 2007 at 9:37 AM | Viewed: 48574 times | Comments and analysis of Mending Wall by Robert Frost Comments (56)

Mending Wall - Comments and Information
Poet: Robert Frost Poem: 1. Mending Wall Volume: North of Boston Year: Published/Written in 1914 Poem of the Day: Jul 13 2000 Comment 56 of 56, added on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:14 PM. just to clarify what Nick in comment 50 said: this poem is not about the Berlin Wall. It is often interpreted like that but this poem was written in 1914, which was before the Berlin wall was constructed. Mansi from United States Comment 55 of 56, added on December 20th, 2007 at 1:29 AM. Mending Wall is one of the poems that I'm studying in IB this year. The poem starts out with the ambiguous "Something there is that doesn't love a wall". Frost ponders why there's something in him, perhaps in all humans that doesn't like walls. Yet the irony is that he contacted his neighbor "I let my neighbor know beyond the hill" to fix the wall. Frost is the one that instigates this fixing of the wall. He also mocks his neighbor a bit, repeating "good fences make good neighbors", as if the man is very stubborn and determined to fix the fence. Also, Frost's neighbor seems to be ignorant or simplistic, perhaps even primitive. The neighbor is described to be "like an old-stone savage". Yet, at the very end of the poem, Frost seems to come to the realization that fences, though he may not like them, are necessary because they give people a sense of security. The end of the poem is much darker than the rest of the poem, and Frost seems to see that there may be a part of his neighbor that he, too, would like to keep away from him, as shown by, "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. It seems that his neighbor can appear dangerous as well, and Frost ends with his neighbor's statement, "Good fences make good neighbors". In short, the fence is what physically keeps the two neighbors apart, but also brings them together each spring to mend it once again. I. Lao from United States Comment 54 of 56, added on November 4th, 2007 at 9:37 AM. this poem presnts two views, 1) why do walls make good neighbors? and 2)why dont walls make good neighbors? This is the typical writing style of Robert Frost, he presents a conflict then ask the reader to create his/her own solution. in this poem i think that creating the wall maintains friendship, from a metaphorical point of view the walls can be seen as the personal barriers which we build up to maitain a relationship with our peers, that is it is not everything we do that we want our friends to know about hence we create secrets,diaries et cetera to keep 'things'away.From the other view point i think robert is trying to pose why should we do this?(that is create barriers) Dont we love one another? navare harriott from Jamaica More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Mending Wall, has received 56 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Robert Frost with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info
Poet: Robert Frost Poem: 1. Mending Wall Volume: North of Boston Year: Published/Written in 1914 Last read: May 9 2008, 2:58PM Poem of the Day: Jul 13 2000 Viewed 48574 times. Added on November 4th, 2007 at 9:37 AM.

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