Mending Wall
Poetic Analysis
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."
Persona:
There are two types of characters in Mending Wall: Open people and closed people. The persona introduces himself in a reflective, offhanded way, musing about walls. In lines1-4, clearly he is a casual sort. He broaches no difficult subjects, nor does he insist on talking about himself Frost establishes at the outset his speaker's discursive indirection Evinces the persona's unrestrained imagination. Persona shows his playfulness In lines (25 and 26) the speaker ridicules his neighbour. the term "neighbour" seems increasingly ironic to the persona.
Sound Devices:
Alliteration
The letter "s" : "stone on a stone," - "Old-stone savage, Something..sends..swell..spillssun. it has a soothing effect on the reader when the youth is so frustrated with his search of answers. Uses the letter "w: "why, "where," "for whom," and "what" to ask the questions that are bothering him. These words are of a curious tone. Also the line: What I was walling in or walling out.
Assonance
Many of the end-words share an assonance wall, balls, more, orchard again, game, Cow, out six various a vowels in this line: And make gaps even two can pass abreast.
Consonance
There are fifty-three l and ll sounds in the poem sun, mean, line, stone That sends the frozen-ground-swell.
Sound Devices:
Internal Rhyme they have left not one stone on a stone. No one has seen them made or heard them made. Onomatopoeia "yelping dogs (line 9) Pun (Line 35) Offence sounds like a fence. The word offence has negative connotations associated with it so in turn this gives a negative feel towards the fence The vocabulary used is simpleno fancy words, all short (only one word: another, which is of three syllables), all conversation. Gives a easy-going and colloquial sound/feeling to the poem
Allusions:
Allusions to the Berlin Wall:
The most obvious allusion of this poem is to the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier erected in 1961 by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) that completely enclosed the city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany. The Wall was disliked by many and was sometimes referred to as the wall of shame The poem was read out in 1961 as an indictment on the construction of the Berlin Wall. On November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, The East German government announced that all East German citizens could visit West Germany. Crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters.
Allusions (cont)
Allusions to the wall of Jericho.
The Book of Joshua describes the famous battle of Jericho, stating that it was circled seven times by the ancient Children of Israel until its walls came tumbling down (Joshua 6:20). "So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets... and the people shouted with a great shout... the wall fell down flat. In both the story of Joshua and Frosts poem, walls are given strong disapproval.
