The Symbolism Of Fences In Robert Frost's Mending Wall

Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” revolves around how at some point in time, people are going to become distant and how difficult it is to maintain a friendship that is in good condition. The speaker titles the poem “Mending Wall” to symbolize how miscommunication can become a physical and emotional barrier. The speaker is trying to respect his neighbor’s boundaries, but feels as if their boundaries will make them become distant. Connotative terms are being used to further analysis the true meaning of what the speaker is trying to convey. For instance, according to the speaker, the neighbor expresses, ‘“Good fences make good neighbors”’ (Frost, 27). Within this piece of the poem, the speaker utilizes the word “fence” to emphasize boundaries. In other words, when a person respects another person’s

Therefore, the speaker is trying to express how he wants to experience new and exciting memories with his/her neighbor. Furthermore, as the poem begins to unravel, the speaker’s attitude comes off as curious and refusal. The speaker does not want to be emotionally and physically separated from his neighbor/friend. This transitions to the tone shifts exhibited in the poem. For example, within the beginning of the poem, the speaker reveals how he understands his neighbor’s point of view. According to lines 1-4, the speaker notes, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, / That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it / And spills the upper boulders in the sun, / And makes gaps even two can pass abreast” (Frost). Here, the narrator acknowledges how a wall can prevent chaotic reactions and disputes between neighbors. However, toward the end of “Mending Wall”, the speaker denotes how a wall can be torn down, both physically and emotionally. According to the narrator, he questions, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was like to give offense” (Frost,