Robert Frosts Poetry Mending Wall - Essay Example

Known for his symbolism in his poetry, ‘Mending Wall’ is one of Robert Frost’s most d poems (www.poetryfoundation.org). The seemingly mundane approach of the poem makes up for the extensive arguments it presents. It tackles, at the core, human relationships and the obstructions we impose to protect ourselves. As the famous line extensively put forward in the poem goes, “Good fences make for good neighbors” (27). The line delves on the inherent need to build some distance between relationships.

Not necessarily as a means of preventing ones self from inclusion but just putting up some hurdles so as not everyone would be too close. This is one of the arguments presented by Frost inn the contradiction between two neighbors in the poem. "We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each." (15.16). It is a compulsive habit that human beings possess, the need to be close to something or someone yet still keeping a distance as some sort of breathing ground.

The wall so to speak is built bigger and stronger in time. To shed away from the pains that might be brought by an unwarranted closeness. In the same way, pieces of the enclosure crumble one way or another. The poem deliberates on the persona of the poem with the use of the first person. It represents a conflict within between two neighbors, one who sees the importance in creating a barrier between them and the other who perceives that such wall and the effort exerted toward the building of it is unnecessary (Deutsch, 474).

This lies in parallel to a closely related expression, too close for comfort. As everyone wants to build lasting and true relationships but no one can fully say that each of these connections are truly honest and that all impediments have been eradicated to commit to such a deep level of connection. It is like one of the neighbors on the poem who continues to build the fence as a way of preventing direct neighborly contact. Why do people build barriers? This is one good question that Frost dared ask in his poem, "Before I built a wall Id ask to know.

What I was walling in or walling out" (33.34). And one gets to thinking, what it is really, is it because we fear that anyone may dwell and ruin the privacy of our home, or is it because one is afraid that an unacceptable part of him gains liberty to free itself of inhibition. Maybe, when one contemplates about it, it is a combination of both. In a literal interpretation, people are afraid to eliminate all boundaries between all his relationships as it represents a higher potential to be dismayed.

It is because in some ways, one would rather be moderately happy than extremely upset. And it is because we value relationships, but in a bigger notion, we value ourselves and how we feel further. Mending Wall, unlike some of the other works by Robert Frost constitutes an aesthetically frivolous approach to poetry. This is an attribute that the poet is not particularly known for. But the subtlety and the contextual meanings that he is conveying is something that cannot be denied from a master of words like himself.

The values and variances in relationships, friendships and human relations tackled in the poem contain meaning that transcends the simplicity of the poem (Alonso, 478). Because we have to admit it, sometimes we merit building walls. To keep some things in and to prevent others to get out. And in the end, there is much truth in that good fences (do) make for good neighbors even though in face value it might sound anti-social or extreme (46). Works Cited Barnet, Sylvan, and Hugo Bedau. Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, With Readings.

New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 1992. Robert Frost (1874 - 1963). 2008. Poetry Foundation. 30 Nov. 2008.