Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Introduction

“Mending Wall” is the opening poem of second poetic collection of Robert Frost, “North of Boston”. It is one of the most appreciated and popular poems of Frost. The poem has almost symbolized the poet for ill or good (Attebery, 1988). About after 50 years of its publication, Frost on a visit to Moscow said that people frequently misinterpret or misunderstood the poem and the secret of the poem is only known to him. He also said that it is man himself who build the boundaries and walls and break them (Richardson, 1997). In this poem, wall is the chief symbol which sometimes becomes real which separates the neighbor's properties and sometimes acts an imaginary boundary which restricts neighbors from interaction.

Discussion

The poem opens up with the statement, “Something there is that doesn't love a wall,” (Frost, 1914) which leaves the readers with speculations about what that something is. It might be the winter which is indicated in the second line and creates gap in it. Here, winter might be seen as the one which caused damaged to the wall but it can also be seen as the cold nature of someone which causes damages to the boundaries people build around them. It is only mended when both neighbors noticed the gaps in the wall in spring season and set about mending them. The two walk together, the wall between them, replacing the boulders that have been left behind during the winter when there has been no cause to venture out to the wall (Clarke, 1984).

For the speaker, wall is almost necessary as they both had nothing in their possession which could disturb another. For him, wall mending is not about keeping things out and so he inquires about whether it is for ...