NOTES AND REVIEW -MENDING WALL

Notes - Mending  Wall PREPARED BY TEAM GHSS KAMBALLUR

“Mending Wall”

Robert Frost

Introduction

“Mending Wall” is written by Robert Frost, the most admired and highly honoured American poet of the 20^th century who was famous for his depictions of rural life in New England. He was noted for his command of colloquial speech and his realistic poems portraying ordinary people in everyday situations. His major collections of poetry include: North of Boston, A Boy’s Will, Steeple Bush, In the Clearing, etc. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “The Road Not Taken”, “Birches”, and “Mending wall” are some of the most anthologized poems in English literature.

Central idea of the poem

Frost’s “Mending Wall” raises the question whether a wall or barrier of any kind is necessary to make good neighbours. The poet presents two contrasting views in the poem through two persons- the speaker and his tradition-bound neighbour. The speaker is quite suspicious about the necessity of the wall between his and his neighbour’s properties. He begins by saying that there is something nameless in nature which by its mysterious workings tears down walls. Hunters, in search of rabbits, too destroy walls. He says that he has followed these hunters and mended the wall quite often. Still, at spring mending time, there appears gaps in the wall puzzlingly. Though he informs his neighbour and takes part in the mending of the wall, he questions the necessity of such a wall between their properties. He makes several arguments to convince his neighbour: they have no cows to trespass on to another’s land and destroy the crops. He also remarks that the apple trees of his orchard will never get across and eat his neighbour’s pine cones. Though the open-minded speaker tries to persuade his neighbour that the wall is quite unnecessary, the latter sticks to the traditional view that “Good fences make good neighbours”. We get the impression that the speaker’s neighbour is an orthodox person who lives in ignorance (“moves in darkness”) and who is unwilling to examine the traditional views of his previous generation. (“He will not go behind his father’s saying”).

Symbolic meaning of the poem

A significant feature of Frost’s poem is its ability to produce diverse levels of meaning, some of which are contradictory. To say that Frost, the poet, is with the speaker or the neighbour is crude reductionism. Frost, here, presents a situation drawn from everyday life of a common man and looks at it from different angles. Literally, the poem is about the process of mending a wall and two different attitudes towards it, represented by the speaker and his neighbour. But symbolically, the poem is about mending human relationships, the qualities needed to live harmoniously in a society, etc. Some of the possible meanings are the following:

Ø  The speaker and his neighbour hold totally different views about the wall, the latter holds the traditional view that walls and fences are needed to make good neighbours, whereas the former is doubtful about it. In spite of their contrasting views, they are willing to work together, and co-operate. Through the example of the speaker and his neighbour, the poet stresses the need for co-operation for a society to be harmonious.

Ø  The term “Wall” may signify “barrier” or “restriction”. The original purpose of a wall is to prevent somebody or something from entering one’s property. However, here, interestingly, it is the wall or more precisely, the annual repairing of the wall, is what brings the speaker and neighbour together. The poet leaves several textual clues as to it. [For instance, if the speaker is against the wall, why does he inform his neighbour that the wall needs repair!] We can say that for the speaker, repairing the wall becomes “RE-PAIRING” (meeting again) with his neighbour.

Ø  Though the speaker co-operates with his neighbour, he registers his difference. Through the example of the neighbour, the poet emphasizes the need for re-examining some of the traditional views which are held to be true always.

Ø  The speaker is more interested in the “process” of mending the wall than in the wall itself. For the speaker, it is like an “outdoor game”, meaning that he derives pleasure out of it. Whereas for his neighbour, it is a “necessity” dictated by tradition. It seems that he does not enjoy it. It is simply a “work” for him.

Poetic devices

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds. The opening line of the poem, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”, is an example. Here, the initial sounds /s, t, d, l/ and /l/ are all consonants. (In this line, the "t," or "th," sound in "there" and "that" is repeated.-moderator)Other examples:  “We keep the wall between us as we go”.

Simile: Simile is a comparison of two things using words like – like and as. In the second stanza of the poem, the speaker compares his neighbour to a caveman: His neighbour appears “like an old-stone savage armed”

Hyperbole: The term hyperbole means an “over-statement”. The speaker, in order to convince his neighbour that the wall is unnecessary, remarks: “My apple trees will never get across/ And eat the cones under his pines . . .”

Symbol: The poet uses many symbols in “Mending Wall”. The prominent among them is the wall itself. The wall is symbolic of barrier, or confinement. It is not merely a physical structure. Anything that limit free human activity can be called a wall. Hence, walls can be invisible too. For instance, laws and regulations. Another symbol is “darkness”. The speaker says that his neighbour “. . . moves in darkness as it seems to me, / Not of woods only and shade of trees”. Here “darkness” means ignorance or blind subservience to tradition.

Language

Ø  The poet uses simple and clear language.

Ø  He does not use any archaic or difficult expressions.

Ø  He employs colloquial style, typical of the common language of the ordinary people.

Ø  His use of hyphenated expressions (for example, “frozen-ground-swell”) create vivid visual imageries.

     Structure

The poem is written in two stanzas of Blank Verse. It is a stanza of unrhymed iambic pentameter. The first stanza presents the situation: the annual repairing of the wall. Through two persons—the speaker and his neighbour—the poet explores two attitudes towards it.

Conclusion

Frost’s “Mending Wall” is one of the most studied poems in American literature. Though written in simple straightforward language, the poem has multi-levels of meanings. The ability to produce such multifarious/diverse meanings is a clear mark of genius. It teaches us the need for co-operation for a society to be harmonious. It, at the same time, urges us to question the traditional notions which are held to be universally true and applicable to all.

-SREEKANTH C,HSST ENGLISH,GHSS KAMBALUR

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD