Commentary

Mending wall is a poem by Robert Frost, which depicts the distant relationship between the poetic persona
and his neighbour. The setting of the poem is in a countryside of New England. The poem’s purpose is to
make the reader think about the different perspectives people have towards a certain thing, and how we
should take their point of view into account. The target audience doesn’t seem to be restricted to any age
group or a particular group of people, however, the poem is written in such a manner that one needs to be
proficient at analyzing to understand the true meaning behind the poem. Robert Frost, in his own unique
way, asks the reader about the controversy by introducing ambiguity into the poem. The poetic persona
wants to put a notion into the head of his neighbour, to ask him to explain why it is good walls make good
neighbours, but in the end, says nothing. It shows that the poem was left open for people to take their own
different perspectives into account, of what the poem is trying to depict.
The theme of the poem is separation due to human nature. The separation of connection between people
arbitrarily is what the poem discusses. It also shows how due to whimsical reasons, the connections
between people might sever or be distant. This is shown as the neighbour has a detached relationship with
the poetic persona, due to his narrowed and adamant thought process. It is said that the saying “Good
fences make Good Neighbors”, was passed down from his father, implying that the reason why the
neighbour has a detached relationship with the poetic persona is not due to his own thoughts and feelings.
The neighbour might have had an abusive relationship with his father if he decided to follow his saying
word by word, conditioned to think like that. It also might be that the neighbour grew up in a rigid
environment, developing him to believe in the saying. The phrase “behind his father’s saying”, shows a
strong attachment towards the saying, and how he won’t go behind it. The stubbornness displayed by the
neighbour shows his rigidity and refusal towards change. The neighbour's refusal to change can be
connected to society, in general, hatred towards change. The poem is questioning human nature itself, by
making us question, what is wrong with change, and why do we detest it?
The conflict of the poem is between the Poetic Persona’s willingness towards change vs. the Neighbors
conditioned and Narrowed thought process, showing rigidity and refusal towards change. Another conflict
can be depicted as the Poetic Persona vs. The wall. The wall is a symbol in the poem, showing the barrier
between the relationship between the neighbour and poetic persona. Yet still, the wall is the only entity
which brings the Poetic Persona and Neighbor together. Every spring the wall has gaps, which requires
both sides to come together and fix it. The occurrence seems to have become habitual as the poetic
persona refers to spring as “mending-time”. The existence of the wall, is an oxymoron, as it divides both the
neighbour and Poetic Persona, yet brings them together to rebuild it. In the first line, it is said that
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”. The sentence is worded in such a way, to shine importance
on the word ‘Something’. However, from this line, it can be told that the wall is not your typical run of the
mill wall. This is as the wall, is detected by something, portraying the importance towards something we
have no idea about.
The wall can be considered as both physical and mental. The wall might also symbolize the relationship
between the Poetic Persona and Neighbor itself. Their relationship will have almost no consequence in
their daily lives, however, they meet up every spring to share a common goal (rebuilding the wall). Thus,
when the neighbour repeats the saying “Good Fences make Good Neighbors”, he might be referring to how
the Poetic Persona and he should keep a distant relationship. Thus, the neighbour might be indirectly
implying that the barrier between them both should be both physical and mental. The poetic persona seems
to be open to change, while still taking into perspective the neighbours beliefs and thoughts. He believes
that the action of rebuilding the wall every spring is useless and futile. The poetic persona wants the
neighbour to think for himself, on why this wall is being built and what the importance of the wall is. It can
be concluded that the poetic persona is building the wall to keep harmony with the neighbour and to try to
connect with him. The neighbour, on the other hand, is doing this for the exact opposite reason. The
neighbour wants to separate himself from the poetic persona. While for the neighbour, the wall ensures a
good relationship between him and the poetic persona. The poetic persona philosophically thinks about
what wrong could be done by building a wall, given the fact that the act of rebuilding the wall requires the
work of them both. Thus, the wall is bringing them together, yet, keeping them together. It can be said that
the poetic persona and neighbour are also building mental and physical barriers between each other
knowingly. The poetic persona uses the help of cows and different fruits, to show the two different opinions
held by the poetic persona and neighbour.
The poem has a conversational tone. This lures the readers into a calm feeling, as it feels as though a story
is being played out for them. The poem is written in the first-person point of view. Thus, it might be that the
poetic persona’s own views which were thrust upon the reader. This may be the reason why it is believed
that the neighbour has no reasonable reason to keep the wall. There is only one dialogue in the entire (40
lines) of the poem, “Good Fences make Good Neighbors”. This line was repeated to show how strongly the
neighbour feels about the wall. The neighbour’s philosophy about the wall can be shown by this line. The
Denouement of the poem is left with no answer. The poem is left open, ambiguous, for readers to make
their own answers. According to the analysis done, the poem seems to deliver a moral. The main and
middle part of the poem is about how the poetic persona takes into the account the neighbour’s
perspective. This may imply that the poet, wants to show how conflicts can be avoided if one takes into
account the other’s perspective. There are two sides to every coin.
Word Count-1113