ipl-logo

Tone Of Mending Wall

738 Words3 Pages

Broken Wall
In the poem “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, it is evident that the theme is questioning the status quo and wanting to disregard the original rules of life. This is proven in the diction, tone and metaphors the speaker uses.
The entirety of the poem has a passive yet curious tone. The speaker is a man with an odd relationship with his neighbor. Their families have lived in close proximity for at least a generation back. This can be proven through the quote, “[The neighbor] will not go behind his father’s saying” (Line 43). If the father had a saying about the wall between their land, it indicates the relationship between the two families has been the same for a long time. With this prolonged association, there is an acceptance of …show more content…

The only time they seem to speak and spend time together is once a year to fix bits of wall that had fallen. Pieces of the wall fall off or are removed by hunters trying to move between the two farms. The reader knows hunters often the wall because the narrator says that “The work of hunters is another thing/ I have come after them and made repair/ Where they have left not one stone on a stone” indicating this trespassing is common (Lines 5-7).
This is symbolic due to the fact that holes in the wall are manmade, much like the separation between the two neighbors. These hunters frequent both properties, trying to find a prize to take home to unknown peoples. The speaker states that “they (the hunters) would have the rabbit out of hiding/ to please yelping dogs” as if these trespassers have higher beings to appease (Lines 8-9). Being a benevolent person, the speaker mends the wall every year for the sake of his …show more content…

The speaker does not want the wall to divide them. Yet, it is still present in their everyday lives. They know the wall changes. The speaker tells the wall to “Stay where you are until our backs are turned” like he wants to be blind to the change that will ultimately happen to the wall (Line 19). Deep down, they know the wall will break and each will have to mend their own sides. In a resigned manner, the narrator says “And on a day we meet to walk the line/ And set the wall between us once again” as if he does not want the wall to split them apart (Lines 13-14). He questions why a wall works in the dynamics of their relationship.
As the speaker’s curiosity surfaces, he begins to question why there is a wall between them in the first place. He asks “Why do [walls] make good neighbors? Isn’t it/ where there are no cows?” (Lines 30-31) Ideally and historically, walls are used to keep multicellular organisms inside. In this case, the wall is used to keep others out. The speaker uses a metaphor to convey his

Show More
Related
623 Words | 3 Pages

I do not know if that is the ideal time to build a wall, but I was so happy to see my walls being made that I became very possessive of the time spent on them and wanted the four men to be building only my walls. I didn’t begrudge them lunchtime or time taken to smoke a cigarette, but why did they have to stop working when the day was at an end, and why did the day have to come to an end, for that matter? How I loved to watch those men work, especially the man named Jared Clawson. (Kincaid 177).

Read More
268 Words | 2 Pages

On the other hand, in Reagens text “Tear Down This Wall”, the wall is separating the city, and freedom from tolalarism. Although it separates people, it also has an effect on people. These walls have many effects on people. In the text “Mending Wall” the neighbor and the narrator are affected. This wall leads the narrator into thinking bad thoughts about his neighbor.

Read More
424 Words | 2 Pages

Remedios Varo was a Spanish artist. Her original name was María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga. She was born on December 16, 1908 in Anglés, Spain. She had two brothers, Rodrigo Varo, Jr. and Luis Varo. The Varos has traveled throughout Spain and North Africa a lot due to their father’s job.

Read More
488 Words | 2 Pages

The poem “Where There’s a Wall” by Joy Kogawa uses various imagery and symbolism to further enhance the effectiveness of the poem and its message. Like most other poems, “Where There’s a Wall” contains several layers of meaning, which is why it requires the reader to dig through the little details and examples in order to see the big picture. One segment of the poem makes reference to peaceful methods to approach the obstacle of a wall standing in one’s way. It states, "Where there's a wall/ there's a way/ around, over, or through/ there's a gate/ maybe a ladder/ a door."

Read More
193 Words | 1 Pages

In Joy Kogawa’s poem “Where There’s a Wall,” Kogawa uses symbolism to transform the everyday into something unique. Kogawa’s poem repeatedly refers to a wall. “Where there's a wall there's a way. Around, over, or through there's a gate maybe a ladder. A door.”

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

The poem “The Mending Wall” by Robert Frost and the short story “The Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are wonderful pieces of literature. These two pieces of literature share many similarities and differences. “The Mending Wall” explains many family traditions such as building a fence in the back yard. During this poem, Frost can be seen as being straightforward due to the fact that in the poem many negative aspects of a building a wall is displayed. Frost argues that his neighbors are only doing what their parents have told them to do; which means that they are only following old traditions.

Read More
569 Words | 3 Pages

She notes that the importance of the wall is the idea of itself. “Like all walls, it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on” (Le Guin, 1). Through this LeGuin is highlighting the symbolic divide between the two planets and their differing political structures. On each side of the wall the people only know what they see to be true, they don’t understand the differing beliefs and worldview that divide them both.

Read More
408 Words | 2 Pages

The wall divided

Read More
583 Words | 3 Pages

To Bartleby, the walls represent his upcoming death. Bartleby feels lost; he does not know what will happen in the future. Every time Bartleby looks at the wall, he sees the limits of his puzzle life, leading to his breakdown. Knowing that he will disappear soon, Bartleby decides to not come out of his office, “a certain unconscious air...of pallid haughtiness” (14). The walls symbolize Bartleby’s isolation from the office, the world, and the society.

Read More
632 Words | 3 Pages

However, as time progresses the narrator begins to realize he no longer can keep Bartleby around and needs to end the relationship. The narrator’s efforts to get Bartleby to leave the office are unsuccessful. Bartleby’s unwillingness to leave further enhance the symbolism of walls. Bartleby becomes a wall or rather barrier to the narrator and thus leads the narrator to move his office to another

Read More
682 Words | 3 Pages

Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” In this situation, the wall can be represented as poverty, and how hard the common people work decided whether they break through the wall into wealth or not. People can decide much of their future based on their actions and their effort while doing

Read More
589 Words | 3 Pages

(Pg.51-52) The brick walls are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. This thing applies to my own life because I have never really surrounding myself around people who didn’t really want nothing in life. I have always had family and friends who want to follow their dreams and achieve their goals. That’s why I am able to have the mindset I have

Read More
781 Words | 4 Pages

INTRO Each person has their own comfort zone in a relationship, and we are the ones that choose who we shut out. The poem “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost beautifully captures the relationship between two neighbors. Although this story may only seem like a poem about two neighbors discussing a wall, it is much deeper than that. “MENDING WALL” IS ABOUT HOW PEOPLE BUILD UP WALLS AROUND THEM TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR LIVES EVEN THOUGH THERE IS APART OF US THAT WANT TO LET THEM IN.

Read More
1356 Words | 6 Pages

The poem Mending Wall is also very modern in its approach. The poem is based on the modern theme of isolation. Modern men built boundaries and made themselves isolated from each other. Though Frost's poetry often focuses on beautiful images—snow

Read More
833 Words | 4 Pages

Roger Waters represents the lyrics “all in all you’re just another brick in the wall” as education being a pain, and a worthless amount of time. Personally, the wall is as a self-isolating barrier we build through our lives. The bricks are people, or events, which turns us inward, away from others and reality (Marcelo). Pink Floyd describes education as adding another brink to the wall. As can be seen, the individuality within the students are taken away from the teachers and the school system as told through Pink

Read More

More about Tone Of Mending Wall

Related Topics

Open Document