Tone Of Mending Wall

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

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

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