Appreciation of the poem “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost.

The world we live in today is considered so prosperous in many respects. Technological advancements and economical well being have significant roles to play in this. However, the poem “Mending Wall” written by Robert Frost questions the bases of such arguments. It asks some fundamental questions that are thought provoking.

The poem discusses the activity of mending or repairing a wall after it gets collapsed everytime. The speaker of the poem is not quite sure about the reason behind it. He tends to believe that it can be the work of nature which makes the ground swell under it. He also blames it on the hunters who leave no stone after another. The elves also come in his list of people who can do something like this. On the contrary, his neighbor is not interested in finding reasons but repeats a refrain: “Good fences make good neighbors”. The poet is not interested in keeping the wall between himself and his neighbor. However his neighbor by repeating his father’s saying insists that it must be there.

The main idea that the poet wants to convey is about man-made divisions. The wall conveys a symbolic meaning of separation; a wall which is built in mind. This separation works on various levels. It works especially in the name of nationality, religion, caste and race. It can also operate on the lines of social, political and economic considerations. Although keeping walls guarantee us safety and security, they are the main reasons for lack of understanding among people. They force us to give more importance to private ownership of property. This then leads to an unwillingness to share our resources. In the poem we hear the poet talking only about his apples and his neighbor’s cones, but we never hear him saying anything about sharing them. In general the poet mocks people’s tendency to be narrow minded.

The poem can be considered as a criticism of modern world where we have refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and border conflicts (Wars and encounters). In many countries it is the mobocracy that is in place rather democracy, the systematic administration of a nation. This leads us to a lawless chaotic society. Through the speaker and his neighbor ,the poet discusses how traditional attitudes act as blockages to modern values. The speaker of the poem sees himself as a civilized man who opposes conformity to old values and his neighbor as an uncivilized barbarian. Although the poem is open ended we can surmise that the poet is on the side of modern values where restrictive traditional values are done away with. Yet, ironically, a deconstructive analysis of the poem gives a completely different meaning: The word 'mending' can be considered not just as a verb (as an activity), but also as an adjective where the meaning becomes a wall that mends human relationships or solves the problems in human relationships. In that way the wall could be imagined in a positive sense as well. However, nature, who knows best wants the wall down. Which is why the poet says that nature swells the ground beneath the wall.

Many poetic devices are employed by the poet. In lines 25-26 we can see the poet using the poetic device of personification (giving human characteristics to inanimate things): “My apple trees will never get across/And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.” Line 19 is used by the poet for the poetic device of apostrophe (poet speaking to an imaginary person or object): “Stay where you are until our backs are turned”. Also the refrain “Good fences make good neighbors” can be considered as an epigram (a witty saying). The language of the poem is a lucid one but conveys a lot of meaning. We can also notice that the poem is structured as a fence with 45 lines.

As a whole the poem calls forth to destroy man-made walls and to build a better world where brotherhood and harmony are maintained in the places of conflicts and segregation. 

 

-Anjoe-