“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost Essay

Robert Frosts poetry is always simple and direct, yet strangely deep. Every integrity crowd out read into his poesy precisely with different kind of expression. Frost has been arresting the world. He likes to explore relationships between individuals and between commonwealth and nature. unrivaled of his famous poems, jam Wall, reveals his feelings and intellects to the highest degree community, life and imagination.In New Hampshire, where Frosts house was, thither was a stone circumvent. This stone environ was the inspiration for the poem Mending Wall. It was here that Frost used to sterilise this smother with his neighbor Napoleon Guay, who always says Good fences authorise honorable neighbors. In his poem Mending Wall, the persona and the neighbor are haunt a wall that separates their properties. The close to interesting statement in this poem Good fences make good neighbors (line 25) is a paradox, which attr flakes our attention and lead us to hike up discussion on Frosts intention to write this poem. Every winter, the wall fell down and each spring, the persona and the neighbor met together to fixate it. It has roughlyhow become an entertainment for them, as stated in line 21, Oh, just another kind of outdoor game. Later, the persona found that there were no primers to mend the wall at all, and this arises to the central theme of the poem. The persona kept on questioning the reasons for mending since they do not keep whatsoever animals. In the poem, it saysWhy do they make good neighbors? Isnt itWhere there are cows? But here there are no cows, originally I built a wall Id ask to knowWhat I was walling in or walling out,And to whom I was like to give offense.(Line 31-34)If a wall needs repair all year, it is not a good fence. Yet, it does make good neighbors because it brings the men together every spring. Maybe the neighbors father had this very same intention too. The two characters meet and know more about each other when they wor k on the wall together. This exposition is quite ironic because the wall is specifyt to isolate them, but is also a common ground that connects them. And the personas words also possess rough kind of irony in it because though he was somehow criticizing the neighbor for mending the wall, he was doing it too. As Rober Poirier claims that The real significance of the famous poem Mending Wall is that it suggests how much for Frost freedom is contingent upon some degree of bulwark. If the persona is actually Frost himself, he is then subject to a restriction for what he wants to do. He has no choices. He suffers because he has to rebuild the wall with his neighbor every year. But the point is, if the neighbor could not feel that they were in the dark, there would be no possibility of light for both of them. In order to change the whole situation, the neighbor needs to think it over whats the mean of having the wall between them. But still, the persona has very limited control to the situation. roughly CommunityMending Wall is about the opposite heart rate which is to fence yourself in, to form relationships that are rightfully exclusive.(Richards book, p.7)Mending wall is a poem about the world. It is about our community. The wall represents what we as individuals are blockade out. Frost questioned why the neighbor insists upon blocking their properties, though there are only trees inside. Maybe the man was just trying to keep out people, or even the world in order to feel more secure. The neighbor and the persona know that they become to rely on each other. But at the same time they are building walls to protect themselves. Here, the Chinese proverb A wicked heart is unwanted, but a defensive heart is snappy can very well support their behavior.In line 21 Oh, just another kind of outdoor game, it suggested that since the outdoors game involves some kinds of rules, it also can applies to the situation that people must know the rules in the community and pl ay the game properly. It is the wall in our mind that acts as division of the rule in ourgame and that wall that has been taken for granted.Frost wants to break down the barriers set up by man and to make the community screw in harmony. The barriers, which are represented by the wall in the poem, are what kept people from questioning or even contemplating things out in every days life. These barriers are often subconsciously put up and strengthened by people in a society and they control ones thought. Frost reminds us to free our thoughts from barriers and to help us eventually attain freedom.In line 20, the persona said, We wear our fingers rough with handling them. He asks his neighbor not to mend the wall anymore since it makes no reason for doing that. He wants to live in harmony. However, the neighbor says, Good fences make good neighbors. He thinks the wall keeps people honest but the only thing he is hiding behind the wall might be fear.He gave himself an excuse that dista nce could warranty everything. But distance can be easily been misinterpreted, as Mark Van Doren says Distance is a good thing, and so is admitted difference, even when it give ways like hostility. For there can be a harmony of separate sounds that seem to be at war with another, but one sound is like no sound at all, or else it is like death. (33) To keep a distance doesnt really mean to have to build a wall between the two. The wall here seems not quite necessary for the persona and the neighbor.In a community, a wall can act both positively and negatively. Negatively, it can act as a barrier that put off communication, trust and unity. Positively, it can guarantee security and privacy in nowadays society. In the past centuries people kept on building walls, both concrete and abstract ones. The former protects both their property and privacy, magical spell the latter blocks away their trust and communications with others. One very good typeface of the building of wall that blo cks people apart was the Berlin Wall in Germany (1961-1989). After the Second World War in 1945, Germany was change integrity into two sectors called the FRG (the west Germany) and the GDR (the east Germany). For 28 years, the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. At least 100 people were killed at the Berlin Wall. So, whatsthe wall for? Is it really good to have a wall? For those years when the wall was there, relationship of people had not been improved but only hatred and grief had grown.About LifeRobert Frost has written many poems about life. His poems contain topics on life choice, obstacles and gaps between people, such as The Road not taken, The Gift forthwith and Come in. Reading his poems is just like sucking the marrow of life. He is a philosopher, but his ideas are lying behind his poems, not in them-but buried well in it, for us to guess at if we please.In Mending Wall, a barrier is discussed. It can be both mental and physical. The father of the nei ghbor reinforced and insured a lack of communication so it resulted in the ignorance in the next generation. The neighbor is a perfect example of the product of these barriers. He does not really know why the wall is there, he never questions his fathers words and shows that the wall is really memory him and his neighbor from having a better friendship. Frost describes the neighbor as followslike an old-stone raging armed.He moves in darkness as it seems to me.(Line 40-41)The darkness is the ignorance that he has while mending the fence. This shows that the neighbor has limitation of thoughts. The wall restricts peoples sight and mental power without widening their insights that is why the neighbor is described as an old-stone savage armed.Their farm contains only trees, which would be enough for a boundary. There is no physical need for the wall, so there is no apparent reason for going through the trouble of fixing it every year. The neighbor repeats saying Good fences make goo d neighbors although he does not know why the wall is necessary nor does he know why it provide make them better neighbors. Frost is criticizing the ignorance of the neighbor here. However, it is ironic thatself-righteous persona obsessively committed to the wall building himself. Maybe the main theme of the poem Good fences make good neighbors does not only mean a good fence helps to make good neighbors because it can separate clearly their possession and one cannot interfere with others. It can vice versa be explained in the way the good neighbor can helps to make good fences because both of them will be responsible and willing to make their shared possession looks nicer.The poem suggests something about no matter how or where we live, the place will become smaller and more enclosed if we forget to explore beyond our own boundaries. When we go beyond our walls, we can be more comfortable by knowing others. The persona thought that the wall is not necessary. He is perhaps non-trad itional, non-confrontational and desires to have a true relationship without boundaries that can water parting mankind. Line 23 illustrates that There where it is we do not need the wall. However, there might be a difference in perception about the wall affairs. The persona might think that it is a wall building but the neighbor thinks that it is just fence mending.To Frost himself, he thinks that a wall between men is terrible. From the first line in his poem, the something that made the wall fell might be the power of love. It reinforced the idea of We must love one another or perish. That power of love doesnt love the wall, for it is blocking people from loving one another. The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. A wall is exactly the thing that prevents people from displace these words into action. The feeling of love is one of the basic needs for ones life as this feeling influence very much our behaviors.A wall is a wall. No m atter how hard the neighbor tries to fix it, it would not change its original implication and effect, that is, to block out people. Just as a German painter claims that We are not trying to make the wall beautiful because in fact its absolutely impossible. 80 persons have being killed trying to jump over the Berlin wall to escape to West Berlin, so you can cover that wall with hundred of kilos of color, but it will carry onthe same(Thierry Noir)About visionImagination is the forming of a picture in mind in a creative way. It is humans internal thinking. Imagination is always needed for creating a poem and when analyzing it. It gives us dream and a sight of the future. The more a person is civilized and educated, the more imaginative their minds will be. Every person (but more on poets and artist) possesses these qualities. Imagination is needed to work out the abstract ideas in our lives. Without imagination, we wont be able to understand our lives because life itself is very abst ract.In the poem, the persona made an imagination that Something there is that doesnt love a wall (line1). That something is an imagined agent who caused the wall to fall every year. It was left as a mystery. Frost led us to think who or what that something is, and why it has caused the wall to fall, and later, bring to the argument of Good fences make good neighbors.The theme of the poem is that the persona thinks that no wall is necessary between his neighbor and his property. In the poem, the persona thinks that the neighbor seems to use the wall just for belongings the cones of the pine trees away from the apple trees. Frost made use of metonymy in line 24-26 to describe his feelingHe is all pine and I am apple plantation.My apple trees will never get acrossAnd eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.It means the persona is growing apple orchard while the neighbor is growing pine trees. Since they are only trees and not animals, they would not be able to get across to the ot her side to jumble each other. Frost mentioned this to reinforce his feeling of mending the wall is foolish.If imagination is applied in interpreting this part of the poem, I think these lines could also mean that the persona was comparing himself to an apple orchard, he is nice and he can bear fruit, and the fruit is sweet. The apple here may symbolize the personas thoughts and ideas, which is quite right and brilliant. The neighbor is compared to a tall, unbendable pine tree, which symbolize that he was stubborn and reluctant to change. The neighbor does not have individual thoughts and comminuted thinking, he only believes whatsoever his father told him about.Imagination makes impossible become possible. It also turns meaninglessness into meaning. In reading poetry, it should be open for interpretation kind of of having one possible answer. It is peoples emotional state of mind that cannot be concrete or visualized. Poetry is dead because the poem is dead its different imagina tions and interpretations, which makes poetry alive.Robert Frosts poem is easy to understand. It covers a large area of topics. The poem is easy and simple. Yet, if you drill more into it, you may discover that it contains many morals that enlighten you and help you to live a better life. As Mark Van Doren has saidHe is a poet who can be understood anywhere by readers versed in matters more ancient and universal than the customs of one country, whatever that country is. (32)His intention of writing this poem is to reveal the strong message about love and unity, as in the song The Internationale has statedLet no one build walls to divide usWall of hatred nor walls of stoneCome greet the dawn and stand beside usWell live together or well die alone