The Mending Wall

Mending Wall

Mending Wall

The author of this poem is Robert Frost. He was a poet and farmer from New Hampshire and the poem the “Mending Wall” is about when he was a farmer and the life surrounding him during this time. It goes a little deeper than the title says.

My Interpretation

My interpretation of the poem is split between two different things. The first time I read the poem my interpretation was the poem was written about a time of war, “Stay where you are until our backs are turned!” (198) This was short lived because of the way the poem went on from there. The poem seemed to write about a wall and the narrator, who I think is Robert Frost, also spoke about a certain friend or neighbor throughout the poem. It seems the narrator and neighbor annually repair a wall “And set the wall between us as we go” (198) and repair a stone wall that I think divides their property, “We keep the wall between us as we go” (198). I also think the narrator thinks the fence is more of a nuisance to keep around only to repair each year. “There where it is we do not need the wall: My apple trees will never get across” (198) this is where the narrator was saying there is no reason to place stones back on a wall that has been configured by winter and the hunters of the area. The neighbor is all for the annual walk up the wall and replacing the stones arranged by nature during the winter and thinks the wall is crucial for their relationship repeating “Good fences make good neighbors” (198) throughout the poem. To me this means for the neighbors to get along, even though the animals or plants are not an issue, the wall is a must for their relationship to survive and be healthy. Everybody wants his or her privacy and perhaps without certain things, such as the wall in between two neighbors things could be different. The narrator asks “Why do they make good neighbors?” (198). The reason the narrator is asking this question is that he sees no reason to mend a wall every year...