The Mending Wall
Poem: Mending Wall
Poet: Robert Frost
The Historian
1. Robert Frost contemplated suicide when his future wife Elinor rejected him
2. Robert Frost was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal
3. Robert Frost visited the Soviet Union in 1962
The Summarizer
The poem “The Mending Wall” is about two neighbors who are both separated by a wall but disagree on whether the wall is necessary. The wall serves the main purpose of separating the property of each neighbor, but from the speaker’s eyes, it also serves a barrier blocking communication and friendship, leading to emotional isolation and alienation between the two men. Because of the wall, the men are no longer friends and only meet and socialize on the day when they preserve the tradition of the wall and rebuild it because nature and hunters are constantly damaging and destroying it. The neighbor uses the wise saying “good fences make good neighbors” to justify the wall and keep it up, while the speaker thinks that they as neighbors would be better off and have a more personal relationship with no barriers between them at all.
The Inquisitor
Which of the two main characters do you think is correct about the wall needing to be there or not?
The Passage Finder
“That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it/And spills the upper boulders in the sun.”
I like this …show more content…
One of the most famous is the wall of Jericho, which was torn down leading to the destruction of the city inside. Many people think the saying “Good fences make good neighbors” came from the Bible, but the saying came from this very poem, the mending wall. The mending wall has two different beliefs, one approving of a wall and the other disapproving of the wall. And while the Bible doesn’t explicitly say “walls are good/bad”, the one neighbor who wants to enforce and keep the tradition of the wall is supported by the Bible, as Proverbs 22:28 says “Do not move/remove the ancient boundary which your fathers have
Poet: Robert Frost
The Historian
1. Robert Frost contemplated suicide when his future wife Elinor rejected him
2. Robert Frost was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal
3. Robert Frost visited the Soviet Union in 1962
The Summarizer
The poem “The Mending Wall” is about two neighbors who are both separated by a wall but disagree on whether the wall is necessary. The wall serves the main purpose of separating the property of each neighbor, but from the speaker’s eyes, it also serves a barrier blocking communication and friendship, leading to emotional isolation and alienation between the two men. Because of the wall, the men are no longer friends and only meet and socialize on the day when they preserve the tradition of the wall and rebuild it because nature and hunters are constantly damaging and destroying it. The neighbor uses the wise saying “good fences make good neighbors” to justify the wall and keep it up, while the speaker thinks that they as neighbors would be better off and have a more personal relationship with no barriers between them at all.
The Inquisitor
Which of the two main characters do you think is correct about the wall needing to be there or not?
The Passage Finder
“That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it/And spills the upper boulders in the sun.”
I like this …show more content…
One of the most famous is the wall of Jericho, which was torn down leading to the destruction of the city inside. Many people think the saying “Good fences make good neighbors” came from the Bible, but the saying came from this very poem, the mending wall. The mending wall has two different beliefs, one approving of a wall and the other disapproving of the wall. And while the Bible doesn’t explicitly say “walls are good/bad”, the one neighbor who wants to enforce and keep the tradition of the wall is supported by the Bible, as Proverbs 22:28 says “Do not move/remove the ancient boundary which your fathers have