October 20, 2011
Professor ******
Poem Analysis
Mending Wall I chose this poem because the wall reminds me of my personal struggles with other people. When people annoy or bother me I instantly put up an imaginary wall between me and that person. They ask me to stop ignoring them and I just shrug their request, just like in this poem. I decide that the wall between us is better up than down because I was afraid of getting mad and saying things that I would regret later on. Mending Wall, by Robert Frost portrays the routines of two neighbors who are constantly mending the fence, or wall, that separates their properties. If a stone is missing from the fence, you can bet that the two men are out there putting it back together piece by piece.
In Frost uses imagery right from the beginning that lets us know a little bit of the setting with “frozen-ground” (Line 2). He also uses assonance in lines 2-3: “Sends…Swell / Spills, Sun”. In lines 17-19, Frost uses metaphor, personification, and hyperbole. A metaphor compares the stone blocks to loaves and balls. A metaphor-hyperbole compares the method of placing the rocks to a spell. Frost uses alliteration: “Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out” (32-33). Frost's description of every detail in this poem is quite interesting, very pleasant to read, and extremely imaginable. He leaves the reader to decide for himself what deductions he is to make from the reading. On one hand, Frost makes literal implications about what the two men are doing. For instance, they are physically putting the stones back, one by one. Their dedication, commitment, and constant drive shines through when reading how persistence these men seem about keeping the wall intact. Quite the contrary however, is the inferences that something even deeper is going on. There is a sharing experience taking place here. Indeed, by laboring so hard, each man is experiencing physical repercussions, but