Mending Wall of robert frost - Essay Example

We wonder from before we even begin to read the poem, what could be a mending wall? Does it talk of a wall that mends itself? Frost's "wall" is a metaphoric representation of something much more substantial than just a lifeless pile of stones. This wall can be associated with many things. It may represent a barrier, a boundary between two unlike existence. It may speak of segregation, of differentiation, of the negative connotation of being different from one another. It is something that keeps one thing from one labyrinth to reach another.

This mystic feel embedded on the title arouses interest from the unknowing reader. Since there is so much a wall implies to be, the interest to know more about what this wall could possibly pertain to leads the reader to dig further and unfold each word that follows. Reading the first few lines of the poem, the reader finds out how "something" dislikes the erection of the wall. It is as if this "something" purposely deconstructs the wall to the point that two individuals may pass through it side by side.

On the 6th line of the poem "I have come after them and made repair", Frost uses "I", him speaking on the first person's point of view. His use of "I" implies not only of him as the writer telling a story but it symbolizes anyone as an individual. It is his way of giving the reader that sense of belongingness to the poem that creates the connection of the reader to the piece. This connection makes it much easier for the reader to relate to what the writer is trying to relay. Frost's imagist-like approach in the usage of simple and precise imagery is with great depth in meaning.

The 12th line, "I let my neighbor know beyond the hill", tells the reader that the wall is dividing two neighbors. They meet occasionally to reconstruct the wall again; stone by stone they pile them back to its original form. This speaks of two different people or it may speak of a larger number of dissimilar groups of individuals constantly building walls against each other to keep one another from getting across. In this world, we people build barriers due to our fear of being engulfed by the other.

Sometimes we rebuild the walls our forefathers have placed without even wondering what the wall is really for, just like the neighbor in the poem. As the poem progresses, the first person "I" started to question what the walls are for. On the 23rd to the 26th line, he stated: 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. On the 27th line, the neighbor answered, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.

It becomes all the more puzzling to "I". What is there to keep from each other? There are no cows to wall in or wall out. The poem concludes that even if there is this "something" that persistently destroys the wall, the neighbor continues to stand up for "his father's saying". The "wall" symbolizes the unwillingness of the people to accept each other's differences as stated in the last lines of the poem. For the analysis of such a literary piece, the theme is certainly an important element. The theme plays an important role for the analysis of a poem with such a depth in meaning.

Frost uses a similar style used by imagist. The use of free verse and precise imagery with the use of simple and direct words that can easily be associated to the scene or picture the writer tries to portray. The 40th and 41st lines of the poe