Mending Wall Poem Summary and Analysis

Summary:

The speaker of the poem describes a force that despises walls and repeatedly breaks them. Under a wall, the frozen water expands as a result of this force. It likewise makes the wall's upper stones tumble off its top in the glow of the sun. It creates gaps in the wall that are so large that two people can walk shoulder to shoulder in the same direction through them.

There are hunters who puncture the wall, but their method is unique. The speaker frequently comes to fix those spots. The trackers haven't left even a solitary stone in its place. They tried to let the rabbits that were hiding in the wall come out so they could feed their dogs and make their barking dogs happy. Nobody has seen or heard these holes in the wall when they are made. They are only seen there by the speaker and other nearby individuals in the spring, when it is time to repair the wall.

The speaker gets in touch with his neighbor on the other side of the hill. They meet on a spring day and go for a walk along the wall together. As they go, they begin filling in these gaps.

The neighbor of the speaker strolls on his side of the wall while the speaker strolls on his. On their side of the wall, they only fix stones that have fallen off. Some of them have the shape of bread, while others are round. They ask God to keep them where they are. They also rely on prayer to keep their balance on the wall's top. The speaker and the neighbor continue to say: Try not to fall back until we're gone from here!" Picking up the rough stones scratches their fingers. For them, it's just another outdoor activity. On their respective sides of the wall, they play this game. Nothing more is there.

As indicated by the speaker, there's no great explanation for a wall to be there. Pine trees are the only thing on his neighbor's side of the wall. On the speaker's side of the wall, there is an apple plantation. The speaker asserts that his apple trees will never exceed their capacity. They are unlikely to cross the wall and consume the pine cones of his neighbor. He tells his neighbor this, but all he says is, "Good fences are necessary to have good neighbors." Since it is spring and the speaker feels prankish, he supposes on the off chance that he could cause his neighbor to ask himself "are these walls and limits essential? Isn't that only necessary if you want to keep the cows of your neighbor away from your fields? There are no cows in this area.

The speaker states that if he were to build a wall, he would want to know what he was keeping in and out, as well as who would be offended by this. Some power doesn't cherish a wall. It intends to dissect it. The speaker suggests that the wall's cracks are caused by Elves, but they are not.

The speaker believes that his neighbor should think that it is out all alone. When he picks up stones, he can see him and firmly holds them in each hand. He behaves like a legendary warrior. He moves in deep shadow, and not just the shadow of the trees or the thick woods. He doesn't want to question his preconceived notions about the world. He enjoys so clearly expressing this concept. As a result, he repeats it: "To have good neighbors, you need good fences."

Analysis:

One possible meaning for this bit of family wisdom is: having clear limits among ourselves as well as other people prompts sound connections between neighbors since they won't drop out over trivial regional questions or 'attacking each other's space'.

We may like our neighbors, but we don't want to wake up to find them dancing naked on our front lawn when we open the curtains. There are boundaries. Regarding each other's limits assists with keeping things common and friendly. Notwithstanding, does this imply that Ice himself endorses such an idea?

As Frost himself noted in 1962, shortly before his death, "Mending Wall" is frequently misunderstood. It is frequently misunderstood or interpreted incorrectly. However, he continued by saying, "The secret of what it means I keep." Let's face it: this doesn't exactly resolve the issue.

Nevertheless, we are able to analyze "Mending Wall" as a poem that contrasts two perspectives on life and human relationships: the approach that Frost himself (or at least the speaker of his poem) takes, as well as the approach that his neighbor takes. Rather than Frost himself or Frost's speaker, Frost's neighbor insists: Good neighbors are made by good fences.

The expression "good fences make good neighbors" has taken on the meaning of another Frost quote: In a wood, two roads diverged, and I chose the less traveled path. This line from "The Road Not Taken" is frequently misunderstood because readers believe Frost is proudly asserting his individuality when, in fact, the lines express regret for "what might have been."

Actually, the phrase "good fences make good neighbors" is more straightforward: Because they mistakenly attribute the statement to Frost himself rather than the neighbor with whom he (or his speaker) disagrees, people misunderstand the meaning of this line. As the main line of the sonnet has it, 'Something there is that doesn't cherish a wall': This clearly demonstrates that Frost disagrees with the notion that "good fences make [for] good neighbors," whether Frost said it himself or through the speaker of his poem.

It is also important to note that Frost did not invent the expression "Good fences make good neighbors." According to The Yale Book of Quotations, it appeared for the first time on June 13, 1834, in the Western Christian Advocate.