Mending+Wall

Michelle McGee pd.7

Author: Robert Frost Publication: 1914 in // North of Boston // Context: As with almost all of Frost’s poems, the subject concerns, and incudes, nature and human characteristics. The focus on nature can be attributed Frost’s upbringing in the countryside of Massachusetts. His farm actually had a stone wall surrounding it, which pertains to the subject of the poem.  // Mending Wall // takes up the theme where // A Tuft of Flowers // in // A Boy’s Will // laid it down. Frost moved to England in 1912, just before the outbreak of World War I. The tensions between the European countries and the English propaganda could have inspired Frost and influenced the themes demonstrated in the poem. Type of Poem: · Dramatic Narrative · The poem is structured in blank verse using iambic pentameter. · It is a long, one-stanza poem and is written in a narrative-like style with the use of simple diction and a conversational tone that would make it easy to understand for common people.  Synopsis: // Mending Wall // is separated into two parts with dialogue and personal reflection, supporting its narrative definition. The speaker immediately tells us, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”. This statement presents the initial conflict. He and his neighbor must get together every spring to walk the whole length of the stone wall that separates their properties, and to fix places where the wall has crumbled. Then, our speaker begins to question the need for walls. He grows apples and his neighbor grows pine trees. His neighbor says that "good fences make good neighbors." The speaker becomes a bit mischievous in the spring weather, and wonders if he can try to make his neighbor reconsider the wall. His neighbor looks like a menacing caveman as he puts a rock into the wall, and repeats, "Good fences makes good neighbors."  Themes: Tradition- When the neighbor first says, "Good fences make good neighbors," we know that we’ve heard this saying before. When he echoes it at the end of the poem, we realize that this saying was passed down to our neighbor from his father. In this way, the neighbor represents tradition and custom, relying on the past to serve as his guide. The speaker describes his neighbor as "an old-stone savage," making us think of a Neanderthal or caveman. In so doing, our speaker seems to challenge old-school methods, and paints a picture of the wall as antiquated or uncivilized.  Man and the Natural World- The speaker takes great pains to describe the setting of this New England countryside. He tells us right away, "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," (lines 1-3). In doing so, he recognizes and acknowledges nature. Nature seems to be the unnamed culprit who, in addition to hunters, continues to destroy the wall. As the poem unfolds, we learn how spring (and all of its feverish weather and spirit of new life) makes the speaker a bit mischievous. We see in this poem the sharp contrast between the natural and the artificial, nature and man.  <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Controlling ideas- Old vs. New, Tradition vs. Innovation, Isolation vs. Community. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Old vs. New- <span style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 38.85pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“He is all pine and I am apple orchard.” (rustic appeal of the pine, freshness of the apple) <span style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 38.85pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“like an old-stone savage armed.” (to the speaker, the neighbor is ancient) <span style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 38.85pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"> · <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“He will not go behind his father’s saying,” (the neighbor is sticking to tradition) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Literary Features: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Alliteration- Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hyperbole-“not one stone on a stone” <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Anastrophe- “Something there is that doesn't love a wall."   <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Metaphor- the wall is a metaphor for the barriers we build within our own lives.   <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rhetorical Questions - Where there are cows?    <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Allusions- Elves, hunters, Nature   <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Symbolism- Apple Trees, Pine, Wall, Seasons   <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Repetition- “Good fences make good neighbors”    <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Suggestions for Conclusion: Everyday, man is faced with the conflict between openness and privacy. Also, reflecting on generational points of view and how they affect you could help wrap up the commentary with your opinion. Mentioning Wikileaks and how Frost’s poem is a good representation of the disputes concerning the availability of information. The walls the government builds could be seen as mutually beneficial.
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Mending Wall Outline **