Analysis of Mending Wall by Robert Frost
by Barry Wright
Essay: Analysis of Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
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Analysis of Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Robert Frost was inspired to write Mending Wall after talking with one of his farming friend Napoleon Guay. He
learned from talking with his neighbor that writing in the tones of real life is an important factor in his poetic form
(Liu,Tam). Henry David Thoreau once stated that, “A true account of the actual is the purest poetry.” Another factor
that might have played a role in inspiring Frost to write this poem was his experience of living on a farm as a small
boy. Mending Wall was published in 1915 along with a collection of Frost’s poems in North of Boston. Theme
Statements Nature dissolves the barriers that humanity erects. The purpose of the wall in this poem was to isolate
one’s personality and privacy. In line one and thirty-five, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” reveals that
nature has no boundaries, and because it, “doesn’t love the wall,” nature attempts destroy that boundary to bring
humanity and the environment together in a harmonious bond. Nature has made, “… gaps even two can pass
abreast,” shows how nature has made a hole big enough for one person to walk across, and towards another
person’s property to talk. But, it also shows how humans are still unknowingly walling one another out from each
other’s lives. Tradition undermines the desire for change. As the poem progresses it gradually changes from
young ideals to old tradition. The old man in the end, is presenting what he learned from his father through
tradition. In line 43, “He will not go behind his father’s saying,” it clearly states that he will not stray from his
father’s teachings and the tradition set by his antecedents. Why change something they isn’t broken? Even though
the youth has his poin...