Mending Walls

The poem “Mending Walls” by Robert Frost portrays a man and his neighbor mending a stone wall that separates their yards after winter. The narrator questions whether there is a real need to rebuild the wall every year since they farm two different plants. The neighbor insist that it is necessary to rebuild the wall because it is a tradition. By saying that we get the sense that the narrator and his neighbor are vastly different. The narrator depicts the differences between him and his neighbor in many different ways throughout the poem. The narrator's first depiction of the differences between him and his neighbor comes when he says, “He is all pine and I am Apple orchard.” By comparing his neighbor to a pine tree the narrator is saying that his opinions are rigid and rarely ever change being unable to give birth to original opinions. The narrator by comparing himself to an apple tree is saying that his opinions are ever changing bearing new ideas and opinions all of the time. Using the two trees to compare him and his neighbor was a great use of imagery to give the reader the mental picture. The second time the narrator describes the differences between him and his neighbor is when he says “Bringing a stone in each hand, like an old stone savage armed... He will not go behind his father's saying.” The narrator is depicting his neighbor as a “cave man” who uses his strength more than his head. Unwilling to question the ways of those who lived before him the neighbor is stuck in the old ways. The narrator demonstrates his open mindedness by questioning the reasons behind the wall many times throughout the poem.

So throughout the poem the narrator points out the differences between him and his neighbor several times. He uses imagery to help the reader picture his neighbor and the differences between the two of them. He also uses a weird selection in diction to help the reader grasp the major ideas in the poem. By using very clear metaphors and similes Frost