Mending wall.....

Introduction

Robert Frost's most famous poem "Mending Wall" is tribute to one man's notion of being a good neighbor, even as that notion is the opposite of his own. It is about two neighbors who disagree over the need of a wall to separate their properties. It is the opening poem in Robert Frost's second collection of poetry, North of Boston (1915). It is believed to be built upon Frost’s relationship with his neighbour a French-Canadian named Napoleon Guay in New Hampshire with, of course, a wider understanding of the issues.

Analysis

👉The poem opens with a mysterious phrase that there is something in the nature that doesn’t like walls. The narrator says that the crumbling of the wall due to the natural activity makes gaps where the two neighbours can pass through easily. He further points out that the work of the hunters is another obstacle to the wall between the two neighbours. He continues to point out the trouble the hunters cause. They don’t even hesitate to tear down the walls to find the rabbits from hiding to please their barking, yelping dogs. During this mending, the narrator thinks of the utter foolishness of this activity. In fact there is no need of a wall between them. He has only apple trees and his neighbor has pine. His apple trees would never cross the border and eat up the pine cones. The narrator wants to put this notion to his neighbor’s head. But like a stone-headed savage, he only repeats his father’s saying, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

👉The narrator wants to know why good fences make good neighbors. Moreover, they do not have cows. So there is no possibility of causing offence to the other. Again says that there is something in nature that doesn’t love a wall. All man-made walls get destroyed, either by nature or by the work of hunters. So when the spring season comes, he informs his neighbor and they begin to mend the wall that separates their properties. can tell his neighbor that elves keep destroying the wall, but he knows that it’s not elves, and he wants his neighbor to come up with some silly explanation on his own. He wants his neighbor to lighten up, and to question the real necessity of keeping a wall between them. But his uncommunicative neighbor as “an old-stone savage” who “moves in darkness” and seems incapable of thinking beyond the cliched maxim, which the neighbor repeats, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Conclusion

The poem reflects two different opinions and at the same time helps the reader to understand the role of traditions in both restricting and promoting neighbourliness. As human beings we all want to stay connected. At the same time we need our own worlds, detached from others. Disputes occur because one man’s food is another man’s poison and one man’s fence is another man’s wall. Another deep thought towards the ironic idea that the only time the neighbours meet is to rebuild the wall once a year, working together to separate each other.