FREE ESSAY ON 10 MIN JOB ON ROBERT FROST MENDING WALL

10 MIN JOB ON ROBERT FROST MENDING WALL

One way you can read Mending Wall by Robert Frost is that it is about a man who rebuilds
the wall seperating his property from his neighbour's. This man, this persona created by
Gray doesn't seem to believe there is a use for the wall as "he [the neighbour] is all
pine and I [the persona] am apple orchard" but his neighbour believes that "good fences
make good neighbours". The persona tries to change his neighbour's opinion by trying to
"put a notion in his head" but his neighbour seems to just ignore him. So the persona
gets annoyed and thinks of him as an "old-stone savage". This is a very simple situation
which we can all relate to. But, if we read deeper into the poem we may find the meanings
that Robert Frost wanted us to see. Firstly, as we know that this persona is against the
building of walls where not necessary we find that it is this persona that initiates the
re-building of the wall "I let my neighbour know beyond the hill". This gives the reader
something to think about - it puts questions in the reader's mind as to why he would
initiate this if he doesn't think it's necessary. One reason may be that this persona
enjoys the company of his neighbour - but he gets frustrated with him. Maybe this persona
is a lonely person and any company is good company - they "meet to walk the line". Maybe
through mending the wall between them they are mending their friendship. These are all
viable options and as we read further into the poem we may understand to a greater extent
why he does this. When the two start building the wall the reader may notice that words
such as "we" and "our" are used giving the feeling of cooperation and companionship. The
persona once calls this task an "outdoor game" which connotes feelings of enjoyment,
cooperation, competition. The fact that they walk "the line" "one on a side" gives a
visual image in the readers mind and may remind them of a tennis game. I must emphasize
that what is being told in the poem is from the persona's point of view - not directly
Frost's - so the reader must beware and realise that it is possible that the persona is
wrong in some of his comments. "There where it is we do not need the wall" - this comment
being straight to the point makes the reader feel as if the persona is denying the fact
that it is the wall that brings the two men together to cooperate with one another and to
converse with one another (to a certain extent). The line directly after this comment
segregates the two from one another by contrasting the type of people they are with each
other. "he is all pine and I am all apple orchard" - the fact that this statement comes
directly after the comment on the uselessness of the wall suggests that it is these kind
of attitudes that puts a barrier between people thus segregating them from one another.
Personification of the persona's apple trees is used to explain to the reader just how
much this persona undermines his neighbour. "my apple trees will never get across, and
eat the cones under his pines". Even though this comment is light-hearted and almost
humorous it gives the reader the impression that the persona thinks of himself as a more
intelligent person than his neighbour thus feeling that he needs to explain why the wall
is unnecessary.