Me nding Wall

Robe rt Fros t
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.”
Background to Robert Frost

American poet

Write deceptively simple verse but

with subtle and profound thoughts
and feelings

Teacher and a farmer

Symbolism from the countryside of

New England

Focuses mainly on relationship

between man and nature – usually at
odds with one another – man will
never really be able to understand
nature

Won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four

times
 “The world is full of willing people,
some willing to work, the rest
willing to let them.”
ROBERT FROST

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.

ROBERT FROST
Background to “Mending Wall”

Examines the nature and purpose of

WALLS by contrasting man and nature: one
builds walls, the other destroys them

Central refrain:

“Good fences make good

neighbours”

Speaker: dislikes or disapproves of walls,

understands that they divide and separate
people

Neighbour: likes and approves of walls,

sees them as creating boundaries and
fostering good neighbourliness
 Water in ground freezes, expands and
Speaker feels there is something living,
causes the ground to swell
natural thing which does not like walls
and causes them to fall down
Compound noun: describes the process
“Something”: sense of mystery, cannot be
Nature appears contemptuous of man’s
rationalised
efforts

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 ground swells under the wall and
The missing boulders form gaps in the
causes the boulders (dry stone wall) to
wall that are big enough for two people to
collapse
walk through side-by-side
Spills…in the sun: sense of abandon and
Speaker approves of this – allows people
generosity – vs the meanness and
to communicate rather than set up
pettiness of man who restricts and builds
divisions between them
walls
Sometimes he can see that hunters have
broken the wall down

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 speaker’s respect for nature is
obvious in his attitude towards the
hunter and the dogs
 Seems to be a regular, seasonal “job” that
The gaps he finds most interesting are
happens once a year
those that appear mysteriously, for which
there appears to be no rational cause

This adds to the sense of mystery

introduced in line 1

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 neighbour know beyond the hill;

“beyond the hill” – stresses distance – the

wall has not been erected to ensure
privacy
IRONY:
The only time they meet is when they
repair the wall that keeps them separate

Stresses the
repetitive cycle –
man is subjected to
the seasonal shifts –
And on a day we meet to walk the line also suggests the
And set the wall between us once again. inevitability of the
We keep the wall between us as we go. wall collapsing and
having to be rebuilt
Repairing of the wall – sense of on an annual basis
separation and division – each keeps to
his own side of the wall – do not cross
over onto the other’s property
 Repetition of “each” stresses their
separateness and also the
neighbour’s somewhat childish and
absurd attitude – if the stone is on
your side then you pick it up
METAPHOR

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
Different shapes and sizes We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
METAPHOR
 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:
Division & separateness
Narrator’s attitude is playful – he
cannot take it seriously and does
not consider it important
 Neighbour’s negative
There where it is we do not need the wall: attitude – good
He is all pine and I am apple orchard. social relationships
cannot exist when
My apple trees will never get across
men are separated
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. from one another
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbours'.
Wants to shake up his neighbour’s attitude –
see if he can suggest an alternative view or
another way of looking at the wall….

Is he implying that
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder the neighbour is
If I could put a notion in his head: “empty-headed”?
'Why do they make good neighbours?
 He cannot see any practical purpose for the Some people are upset by the
wall – no cows to be separated by the wall – presence of the wall – e.g. the
he stresses the ABSURDITY of building the wall speaker – he feels that he has been
in this particular location shut out without any real reason

Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
In his mind the wall
What I was walling in or walling out,
has to serve some
And to whom I was like to give offence.
logical purpose
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him, PUN
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself.
His true “motives” are starting to
become clearer – he wants to
Some natural (now supernatural) thing in change the way his neighbour thinks
nature that does not approve of the presence – WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE
of the wall – suggests “Elves” WALL?
SIMILE
Neighbour = like a caveman
Stone = weapon
What is he saying about himself in comparison?

I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
FIGURATIVE
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
DARKNESS
He moves in darkness as it seems to me
Unenlightened Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
Has not moved He will not go behind his father's saying,
with the times And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good
neighbors.”

He is not prepared to think beyond that which he

has been taught by his father – what was good
enough for his father is good enough for him –
poem ends with the REPETITION of his father’s
words.