MENDING WALL

Robert Frost

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,
And makes 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 out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where 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 offence.
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 thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

The Road Not Taken

 
 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” has been one of the most analyzed, quoted, anthologized
poems in American poetry. A wide-spread interpretation claims that the speaker in the poem is
promoting individualism and non-conformity.

A Tricky Poem

Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had
walked many times in the woods near London. Frost has said that while walking they would
come to different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always fret wondering what they
might have missed by not taking the other path.

About the poem, Frost asserted, "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem - very tricky."
And he is, of course, correct. The poem has been and continues to be used as an inspirational poem,
one that to the undiscerning eye seems to be encouraging self-reliance, not following where others
have led.

But a close reading of the poem proves otherwise. It does not moralize about choice; it simply says
that choice is inevitable, but you never know what your choice will mean until you have lived it.

First Stanza – Describes Situation

The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his position. He has been
out walking the woods and comes to two roads, and he stands looking as far down each one as he can
see. He would like to try out both, but doubts he could to that, so therefore he continues to look down
the roads for a long time trying to make his decision about which road to take.

Second Stanza – Decides to Take Less-Traveled Road

The speaker had looked down the first one “to where it bent in the undergrowth,” and in the second
stanza, he reports that he decided to take the other path, because it seemed to have less traffic than the
first. But then he goes on to say that they actually were very similarly worn. The second one that he
took seems less traveled, but as he thinks about it, he realizes that they were “really about the same.”
Not exactly that same but only “about the same.”

Third Stanza – Continues Description of Roads

The third stanza continues with the cogitation about the possible differences between the two roads.
He had noticed that the leaves were both fresh fallen on them both and had not been walked on, but
then again claims that maybe he would come back and also walk the first one sometime, but he
doubted he would be able to, because in life one thing leads to another and time is short.

Fourth Stanza – Two Tricky Words

The fourth stanza holds the key to the trickiness of the poem:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Those who interpret this poem as suggesting non-conformity take the word “difference” to be a
positive difference. But there is nothing in the poem that suggests that this difference signals a positive
outcome. The speaker could not offer such information, because he has not lived the “difference” yet.

The other word that leads readers astray is the word “sigh.” By taking “difference” to mean a positive
difference, they think that the sigh is one of nostalgic relief; however, a sigh can also mean regret.
There is the “oh, dear” kind of sigh, but also the “what a relief” kind of sigh. Which one is it?

If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker is glad he took the road he did; if it is the
regret sigh, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret. But the
plain fact is that the poem does not identify the nature of that sigh. The speaker of the poem does not
even know the nature of that sigh, because that sigh and his evaluation of the difference his choice will
make are still in the future. It is a truism that any choice an indiviual make is going to make “all the
difference” in how our future turns out.

Careful Readers Won’t Be Tricked

So Frost was absolutely correct; his poem is tricky—very tricky. In this poem, it is important to be
careful with the time frame. When the speaker says he will be reporting sometime in the future how
his road choice turned out, he clearly states that he cannot assign meaning to “sigh” and “difference”
yet, because he cannot know how his choice will affect his future, until after he has lived it.

"Mending Wall" (1914)

Every year, two neighbors meet to repair the stone wall that divides their property. The narrator is
skeptical of this tradition, unable to understand the need for a wall when there is no livestock to be
contained on the property, only apples and pine trees. He does not believe that a wall should exist
simply for the sake of existing. Moreover, he cannot help but notice that the natural world seems to
dislike the wall as much as he does: mysterious gaps appear, boulders fall for no reason. The neighbor,
on the other hand, asserts that the wall is crucial to maintaining their relationship, asserting, “Good
fences make good neighbors.” Over the course of the mending, the narrator attempts to convince his
neighbor otherwise and accuses him of being old-fashioned for maintaining the tradition so strictly.
No matter what the narrator says, though, the neighbor stands his ground, repeating only: “Good
fences make good neighbors.”

Analysis

This poem is the first work in Frost's second book of poetry, “North of Boston,” which was published
upon his return from England in 1915. While living in England with his family, Frost was
exceptionally homesick for the farm in New Hampshire where he had lived with his wife from 1900 to
1909. Despite the eventual failure of the farm, Frost associated his time in New Hampshire with a
peaceful, rural sensibility that he instilled in the majority of his subsequent poems. “Mending Wall” is
autobiographical on an even more specific level: a French-Canadian named Napoleon Guay had been
Frost’s neighbor in New Hampshire, and the two had often walked along their property line and
repaired the wall that separated their land. Ironically, the most famous line of the poem (“Good fences
make good neighbors”) was not invented by Frost himself, but was rather a phrase that Guay
frequently declared to Frost during their walks. This particular adage was a popular colonial proverb in
the middle of the 17th century, but variations of it also appeared in Norway (“There must be a fence
between good neighbors”), Germany (“Between neighbor’s gardens a fence is good”), Japan (“Build a
fence even between intimate friends”), and even India (“Love your neighbor, but do not throw down
the dividing wall”).
In terms of form, “Mending Wall” is not structured with stanzas; it is a simple forty-five lines of first-
person narrative. Frost does maintain iambic stresses, but he is flexible with the form in order to
maintain the conversational feel of the poem. He also shies away from any obvious rhyme patterns and
instead relies upon the occasional internal rhyme and the use of assonance in certain ending terms
(such as “wall,” “hill,” “balls,” “well”).

In the poem itself, Frost creates two distinct characters who have different ideas about what exactly
makes a person a good neighbor. The narrator deplores his neighbor’s preoccupation with repairing
the wall; he views it as old-fashioned and even archaic. After all, he quips, his apples are not going to
invade the property of his neighbor’s pinecones. Moreover, within a land of such of such freedom and
discovery, the narrator asks, are such borders necessary to maintain relationships between people?
Despite the narrator’s skeptical view of the wall, the neighbor maintains his seemingly “old-
fashioned” mentality, responding to each of the narrator’s disgruntled questions and rationalizations
with nothing more than the adage: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

As the narrator points out, the very act of mending the wall seems to be in opposition to nature. Every
year, stones are dislodged and gaps suddenly appear, all without explanation. Every year, the two
neighbors fill the gaps and replace the fallen boulders, only to have parts of the wall fall over again in
the coming months. It seems as if nature is attempting to destroy the barriers that man has created on
the land, even as man continues to repair the barriers, simply out of habit and tradition.

Ironically, while the narrator seems to begrudge the annual repairing of the wall, Frost subtley points
out that the narrator is actually more active than the neighbor. It is the narrator who selects the day for
mending and informs his neighbor across the property. Moreover, the narrator himself walks along the
wall at other points during the year in order to repair the damage that has been done by local hunters.
Despite his skeptical attitude, it seems that the narrator is even more tied to the tradition of wall-
mending than his neighbor. Perhaps his skeptical questions and quips can then be read as an attempt to
justify his own behavior to himself. While he chooses to present himself as a modern man, far beyond
old-fashioned traditions, the narrator is really no different from his neighbor: he too clings to the
concept of property and division, of ownership and individuality.

Ultimately, the presence of the wall between the properties does ensure a quality relationship between
the two neighbors. By maintaining the division between the properties, the narrator and his neighbor
are able to maintain their individuality and personal identity as farmers: one of apple trees, and one of
pine trees. Moreover, the annual act of mending the wall also provides an opportunity for the two men
to interact and communicate with each other, an event that might not otherwise occur in an isolated
rural environment. The act of meeting to repair the wall allows the two men to develop their
relationship and the overall community far more than if each maintained their isolation on separate
properties.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (1923)

On a dark winter evening, the narrator stops his sleigh to watch the snow falling in the woods. At first
he worries that the owner of the property will be upset by his presence, but then he remembers that the
owner lives in town, and he is free to enjoy the beauty of the falling snow. The sleigh horse is
confused by his master’s behavior — stopping far away from any farmhouse — and shakes his harness
bells in impatience. After a few more moments, the narrator reluctantly continues on his way.

Analysis

In terms of text, this poem is remarkably simple: in sixteen lines, there is not a single three-syllable
word and only sixteen two-syllable words. In terms of rhythmic scheme and form, however, the poem
is surprisingly complex. The poem is made up of four stanzas, each with four stressed syllables in
iambic meter. Within an individual stanza, the first, second, and fourth lines rhyme (for example,
“know,” “though,” and “snow” of the first stanza), while the third line rhymes with the first, second,
and fourth lines of the following stanza (for example, “here” of the first stanza rhymes with “queer,”
“near,” and “year” of the second stanza).

One of Frost’s most famous works, this poem is often touted as an example of his life work. As such,
the poem is often analyzed to the minutest detail, far beyond what Frost himself intended for the short
and simple piece. In reference to analyses of the work, Frost once said that he was annoyed by those
“pressing it for more than it should be pressed for. It means enough without its being pressed…I don’t
say that somebody shouldn’t press it, but I don’t want to be there.”

The poem was inspired by a particularly difficult winter in New Hampshire when Frost was returning
home after an unsuccessful trip at the market. Realizing that he did not have enough to buy Christmas
presents for his children, Frost was overwhelmed with depression and stopped his horse at a bend in
the road in order to cry. After a few minutes, the horse shook the bells on its harness, and Frost was
cheered enough to continue home.

The narrator in the poem does not seem to suffer from the same financial and emotional burdens as
Frost did, but there is still an overwhelming sense of the narrator’s unavoidable responsibilities. He
would prefer to watch the snow falling in the woods, even with his horse’s impatience, but he has
“promises to keep,” obligations that he cannot ignore even if he wants to. It is unclear what these
specific obligations are, but Frost does suggest that the narrator is particularly attracted to the woods
because there is “not a farmhouse near.” He is able to enjoy complete isolation.

Frost’s decision to repeat the final line could be read in several ways. On one hand, it reiterates the
idea that the narrator has responsibilities that he is reluctant to fulfill. The repetition serves as a
reminder, even a mantra, to the narrator, as if he would ultimately decide to stay in the woods unless
he forces himself to remember his responsibilities. On the other hand, the repeated line could be a
signal that the narrator is slowly falling asleep. Within this interpretation, the poem could end with the
narrator’s death, perhaps as a result of hypothermia from staying in the frozen woods for too long.

The narrator’s “promises to keep” can also be seen as a reference to traditional American duties for a
farmer in New England. In a time and a place where hard work is valued above all things, the act of
watching snow fall in the woods may be viewed as a particularly trivial indulgence. Even the narrator
is aware that his behavior is not appropriate: he projects his insecurities onto his horse by admitting
that even a work animal would “think it queer.”

Each of these poems demonstrates different aspects of Frost’s style; some are long narrative works
that are more like short stories than poems, and others speak to his sharp sense of irony and literary
brilliance. Throughout all of these selections, however, there is a shared focus on the deeper meaning
of everyday activities, the rural setting of New England, and the “truth” of real people and real
struggles.

The poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” another of his most famous works, combines
an autobiographical experience with discussion of the conflict between desire and responsibility in a
classic New England setting.

As a poet, Robert Frost was greatly influenced by the emotions and events of everyday life. Within a
seemingly banal event from a normal day—watching the ice weigh down the branches of a birch tree,
mending the stones of a wall, mowing a field of hay—Frost discerned a deeper meaning, a
metaphysical expression of a larger theme such as love, hate, or conflict.

Frost is perhaps most famous for being a pastoral poet in terms of the subject of everyday life. Many
of his most famous poems (such as “Mending Wall” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”)
are inspired by the natural world, particularly his time spent as a poultry farmer in New Hampshire.
Ironically, until his adulthood in New England, Frost was primarily a “city boy” who spent nearly all
of his time in an urban environment. It is possibly because of his late introduction to the rural side of
New England that Frost became so intrigued by the natural world.

After the publication of his Collected Poems in 1930, Frost clarified his interest in the pastoral world
as a subject for his poetry, writing: “Poetry is more often of the country than the city…Poetry is very,
very rural – rustic. It might be taken as a symbol of man, taking its rise from individuality and
seclusion – written first for the person that writes and then going out into its social appeal and use.”
Yet Frost does not limit himself to expressing the pastoral only in terms of beauty and peace, as in a
traditional sense. Instead, he also chooses to emphasize the harsh conflicts of the natural world: the
clash between urban and rural lifestyles, the unfettered emotions and struggles inherent in rural life,
even the sense of loss and simultaneous growth that accompanies the changing of the seasons.

Frost’s poetry is also significant because of the amount of autobiographical material that it contains.
Frost was not a happy man; he suffered from serious bouts of depression and anxiety throughout his
life and was never convinced that his poetry was truly worthwhile (as evidenced by his obsessive
desire to receive a Nobel Prize). He suffered through the untimely deaths of his father, mother, and
sister, as well as four of his six children and his beloved wife, all of which contributed to the
melancholic mentality that appears in much of Frost’s work.

The raw emotion and sense of loss that pervades Frost’s poetry is particularly clear because of his
straightforward verse style. Although he worked within some traditional poetic forms (usually iambic
meter), he was also flexible and changed the requirements of the form if it conflicted with the
expression of a particular line. Yet, even as he was willing to utilize the basic conventions of some
poetic forms, Frost refused to sacrifice the clarity of his poetry. With that in mind, he was particularly
interested in what he called “the sound of sense,” a poetic belief system in which the sound of the
poetry (rhythm, rhyme, syllables) is as important to the overall work as the actual words. Therefore, in
poems such as “Mowing” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Frost’s use of particular
words and rhythmic structure creates an aural sense of the mood and subject of the piece even as the
words outline the narrative.

Frost’s use of “the sound of sense” is most successful because of the general clarity and even
colloquial nature of his poetry. At one point in his life, he asserted, “All poetry is a reproduction of the
tones of actual speech.” Although this quotation is perhaps a generalization of Frost’s poetic style, it
does speak to the accessibility and simplicity that has made Frost’s poetry so appealing to so many
readers for decades. Because of the clarity of the sounds in his work, both in terms of the narrative and
in terms of “the sound of sense,” the readers are able to comprehend the basic emotion of a poem
almost instantly and then explore the deeper, more metaphysical meanings behind each simple line.

During his beginnings as a poet, Frost was often criticized for using such a colloquial tone in his
poetry. When his first poem was published in The Independent in 1894, the acceptance was
accompanied by a copy of Lanier’s “Science of English Verse,” a not so subtle suggestion that Frost
needed to work on mastering a more traditional tone and meter. Even after his success as a poetic was
assured, Frost was still censured by some for writing seemingly simplistic poetry, works that were not
reminiscent of high art.

Yet even though Frost’s poetry is simple and clear, Richard Wilbur points out that it is not written in the
colloquial language of an uneducated farm boy, but rather in “a beautifully refined and charged colloquial
language.” In other words, Frost’s ability to express such a depth of feeling in each of his poems through the
medium of colloquial speech reveals a far greater grasp of the human language than many of his critics would
admit. It is because of the clarity of his poetry that his poems are beloved and studied in high schools throughout
the United States, and it is also because of this clarity that Frost is able to explore topics of emotion, struggle,
and conflict that would be incomprehensible in any other form.