The speaker in Robert Frost's "The Mending Wall" is a realistic, reasonable, and free-thinking guy. Despite his annoyance at having to assist mend the wall, he approaches the assignment with a sense of humor. Indeed, one can even say that he enjoys it quite a bit!
Furthermore, the speaker does not feel obliged to explain or justify himself to anyone. Even when his neighbor questions him about why he is mending his wall, he merely replies that it is for the fun of it.
In short, the speaker in this poem is a normal, everyday person who likes to have some fun. He is certainly not your typical boring, uptight character like so many other poets.
Now, what kind of man would spend his time repairing his neighbor's wall? In modern terms, the speaker is a redneck. Back in the day (i.e., before 1965), a redneck was a rural American who lived in a small town and had conservative political views. As you can see, this poem is set in the early 1950s, which means it was written by a liberal Republican who despised conservatives.
The speaker of the poem "Mending Wall" continues to assist repair the wall even if he recognizes he disagrees with its presence. The speaker changes throughout the poem. At first, he seems angry at the wall for dividing his property and expressing a desire to have it removed. But soon after, he realizes that the wall has become part of his life and he feels compelled to help maintain it.
Some scholars believe that the main irony in the poem is that the speaker keeps on mending the wall even though he knows that the wall will eventually come down. They argue that this shows that he is willing to compromise his own desires in order to keep peace with others.
Others think that the most important irony in the poem is that the speaker tries to destroy something that was once alive. They say that this reveals that even though he knows that the wall will not recover from being torn down, he is still sad to see it go.
Still others point out that the poem contains other minor ironies such as believing that the wall will be taken down when the speaker knows it will never be replaced and feeling sorry for someone who wants nothing to do with him.
Because of the wall, his tone is pensive (sad). He is both sensible and sentimental. He is continually emphasizing the value of friendship. In Robert Frost's poem Mending Wall, the speaker tells everything from his point of view in a first-person dramatic narrative. He reveals that he is old, alone, and poor because there is no money for seeds or fertilizer. However, even though he has nothing to lose, he is still willing to make sacrifices to keep his friends close.
The tone of the poem is very serious but at the same time it is amusing in some ways. For example, one part describes how the wall was built as an obstacle course. Another part shows that the speaker has learned to accept his situation by laughing at himself for being so foolish as to worry about small things like seeds and fertilizer. Still another part explains that the wall will come down soon because there's no need for it anymore since the farm next door has been sold. Finally, the last part is cheerful indeed! It says that even though all these changes have taken place, the speaker can still see beauty in the broken wall and imagine what the farm must have looked like when it was new.
In conclusion, the tone of the poem is thoughtful yet lighthearted at the same time. It is obvious that the speaker loves nature and wants to keep our relationship friendly even though he is old and they are different lifestyles.
"Mending Wall," first published in Robert Frost's second book, North of Boston, in 1914, is a narrative poem about a meeting between two neighbors whose property border is delineated by a stone fence. One day the wall is mended with red brick when it is discovered that it forms an angle with the house next door. As time passes, there are more such repairs until finally the wall becomes a part of both houses and begins to feel like home.
Frost used this as the basis for a set of sonnets that were later published under the title "Two Scenes from Thoreau." In 1937, another poet named Carl Sandburg included a version of "Mending Wall" in his collection of poems called The People, Yes. This version was later included in its entirety in A Treasury of Great Poems (1950).
Frost originally titled his series of sonnets "The Builders." However, after sending them to his publisher, Henry Holt & Co., he decided to change the title before they went into print. He explained, "I thought of calling them 'Sonnets From Boughton' but changed my mind because I didn't want to claim too much for them, or be fanciful about their origin."
In his poem "Mending Wall," Robert Frost used metaphor and personification to explore the issue of erecting actual or symbolic barriers that divide individuals. Frost, for example, illustrates, "To each the stones that have fallen to each./And some are loaves and some are nearly balls" (16-17). In this case, the wall represents a physical barrier that separates two farms but also alludes to how people view themselves as separate from one another.
Frost also uses allusion and irony to convey messages in "Mending Wall." As the title suggests, he is trying to mend a wall that was probably built to keep out farmers' livestock. However, even though it divides two farms, the wall also unites them since they are both involved in its maintenance. By describing the wall as both enemy and friend, Frost is implying that while it may be necessary to have barriers between people, it is also important to try to understand those on the other side of the wall.
Finally, Frost uses foreshadowing to indicate that something bad will happen to the wall because someone has taken a part of it. Just before the line "Something bad will come of this," the speaker notes that no one has any right to take anything from anyone else. Then, just after writing about what will happen to the wall if someone takes a stone, Frost adds, "Someone did."
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Authors Cast Inc.
