The Mending Wall
Mending Wall Script
Mending Wall is the opening poem of Frost’s second book of poetry “North of Boston”, which was published upon his return from England in 1915. While he was in England, he was homesick for the farm in New Hampshire where he had lived with his wife from 1900 to 1909. This poem depicts Frost’s personal story with his neighbor, a French-Canadian in New Hampshire. The two had often walked along their property line and repaired the wall that separated their land. The theme I am going to focus on are opposition to nature and tradition. In the poem mending wall, the two characters, Frost and his neighbor, has contradicting beliefs in the necessity of building division. The neighbor thinks the wall is beneficial, whereas Frost thinks there is no necessity of the wall (line 23). Frost is a nature lover and nature is often mentioned in his poem. In this poem, he portrays the wall as in opposition to nature to strengthen his opinion and perception on the necessity of the wall. A few examples of nature imagery and diction can be seen in this poem. In line 2 to 3, it says “frozen-ground-swell” “spills the upper boulders”. This is a reference to natural events and shows that the wall deteriates on its own naturally. Nature’s attempt to destroy the wall. In line 11, it mentions “spring mending time we find them there”. In nature, spring is a time of birth, and a time when people create something new and fresh. However, instead of creating new things, the neighbors are just fixing the old fences every spring. Frost is trying to show that this action is a demonstration of old-fashion thinking that does not follow nature. Imagery in line 17 compares the boulders to “loaves” and “balls”. Loaves and balls are both human made shapes which do not occur naturally. This show that the building of wall is simply human effort and it is against nature. The line following it says that “we have to use a spell to make them balance”, “spell” refers to something magical.
Mending Wall is the opening poem of Frost’s second book of poetry “North of Boston”, which was published upon his return from England in 1915. While he was in England, he was homesick for the farm in New Hampshire where he had lived with his wife from 1900 to 1909. This poem depicts Frost’s personal story with his neighbor, a French-Canadian in New Hampshire. The two had often walked along their property line and repaired the wall that separated their land. The theme I am going to focus on are opposition to nature and tradition. In the poem mending wall, the two characters, Frost and his neighbor, has contradicting beliefs in the necessity of building division. The neighbor thinks the wall is beneficial, whereas Frost thinks there is no necessity of the wall (line 23). Frost is a nature lover and nature is often mentioned in his poem. In this poem, he portrays the wall as in opposition to nature to strengthen his opinion and perception on the necessity of the wall. A few examples of nature imagery and diction can be seen in this poem. In line 2 to 3, it says “frozen-ground-swell” “spills the upper boulders”. This is a reference to natural events and shows that the wall deteriates on its own naturally. Nature’s attempt to destroy the wall. In line 11, it mentions “spring mending time we find them there”. In nature, spring is a time of birth, and a time when people create something new and fresh. However, instead of creating new things, the neighbors are just fixing the old fences every spring. Frost is trying to show that this action is a demonstration of old-fashion thinking that does not follow nature. Imagery in line 17 compares the boulders to “loaves” and “balls”. Loaves and balls are both human made shapes which do not occur naturally. This show that the building of wall is simply human effort and it is against nature. The line following it says that “we have to use a spell to make them balance”, “spell” refers to something magical.