Mending Wall – Summary & Analysis

In Short

• The poem describes the annual spring ritual when two neighboring farmers meet to repair a stone wall separating their properties
• The speaker notes that something in nature ("frozen-ground-swell," frost) works against the wall each winter, creating gaps
• Hunters also damage the wall while pursuing rabbits, leaving significant destruction that the speaker must repair
• Every spring, the speaker notifies his neighbor, and they meet to walk the property line together and rebuild the wall
• The speaker sees the wall-mending as a game and questions its necessity since there are no cows to contain
• Critically, the speaker explicitly states "There where it is we do not need the wall"—a direct declaration that the wall is unnecessary
• The speaker's property contains apple trees and the neighbor's has pines; these harmless plants could never cross the wall to cause damage
• The neighbor repeatedly insists "Good fences make good neighbors," a traditional proverb he will not question
• The speaker wants to inspire the neighbor to think and question, but first considers suggesting "Elves" as the mysterious force against the wall
• The speaker realizes the neighbor must come to understanding himself, not accept the speaker's explanation—"I'd rather / He said it for himself"

Mending Wall – Line by Line Analysis

Opening Lines (1-4): The Hidden Force Against the Wall

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.

The poem opens with a mysterious and profound statement: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall." This opening is deliberately vague—"something" is never explicitly defined. It could be nature, physics, a spiritual force, or human nature itself. The deliberate vagueness invites interpretation. The speaker is not claiming certainty but presenting a mystery.

"That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it" reveals one agent of the wall's destruction: frost and winter. "Frozen-ground-swell" describes how water in the soil freezes and expands, pushing upward with tremendous force. This natural process works against human construction, undermining the wall from beneath.

"And spills the upper boulders in the sun" shows the result: boulders are displaced and tumble into sunlight. The "spilling" suggests violence and inevitability—the boulders cannot resist the force pushing them.

"And makes gaps even two can pass abreast" indicates the scale of the damage—the gaps are large enough for two people to walk side by side through them. Despite human effort to maintain the wall, it is regularly destroyed by natural forces.

Lines 5-10: The Work of Hunters and the Mysterious Gaps

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,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,

"The work of hunters is another thing" introduces a second force destroying the wall: human activity. Hunters, pursuing rabbits, damage the wall to access hiding places.

"I have come after them and made repair / Where they have left not one stone on a stone" describes the extent of the damage. "Not one stone on a stone" is a biblical phrase suggesting complete destruction (echoing Jesus's prophecy about the Temple). The hunters obliterate the wall in their pursuit.

"But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, / To please the yelping dogs" explains the hunters' motivation: they seek sport and entertainment. Their dogs' barking pleasure takes precedence over the wall's integrity. This suggests that human concerns (recreation, pleasure) routinely override the maintenance of boundaries.

"The gaps I mean, / No one has seen them made or heard them made" distinguishes between visible destruction (hunters) and mysterious destruction (natural forces). The most mysterious gaps appear without witness, suggesting hidden, elemental forces at work.

Lines 11-20: The Annual Ritual and the Balancing Game

But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

"But at spring mending-time we find them there" establishes the annual cycle: winter destroys the wall; spring brings its restoration. The word "find" suggests discovery, not expectation overcome.

"I let my neighbor know beyond the hill" reveals that the speaker takes the initiative—he is the one who contacts the neighbor to set up the mending appointment. This is crucial detail often overlooked: the speaker, despite his doubts about the wall, actively maintains it and initiates its repair.

"And on a day we meet to walk the line / And set the wall between us once again" describes their joint effort. "Walk the line" suggests ritual movement; "set the wall between us once again" emphasizes the cyclical, repeated nature of this boundary-setting.

"We keep the wall between us as we go" is crucial: as they repair the wall, they maintain distance from each other. They work on opposite sides, the wall literally separating them even as they cooperate to maintain it.

"To each the boulders that have fallen to each" divides the work: each man repairs his own side of the wall. This reinforces the separation—even while working together, they remain on opposite sides.

"And some are loaves and some so nearly balls / We have to use a spell to make them balance" describes the difficulty of fitting irregular stones. "Loaves" (flat, bread-like) and "balls" (round) require different balancing techniques. The phrase "use a spell" suggests magical thinking—they chant a magical incantation to make the stones stay balanced.

"'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'" is the "spell"—a humorous magical formula. This suggests they are playing, that the work is partly game, partly ritual, partly superstition. The playful tone contrasts with the serious work being done.

"We wear our fingers rough with handling them" indicates the physical toll of their labor. Despite philosophical differences, they work cooperatively and suffer equally.

Lines 21-28: The Speaker's Explicit Questioning

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

"Oh, just another kind of out-door game, / One on a side" positions wall-mending as recreation. "One on a side" emphasizes the competitive aspect—two opponents, a wall between them. The speaker's tone is half-amused, suggesting he does not take the wall's purpose seriously.

"It comes to little more" suggests the wall-mending accomplishes little—it is futile activity, repeated annually without deeper purpose.

"There where it is we do not need the wall:" is a CRITICAL line often misread or overlooked. The speaker makes an EXPLICIT, DIRECT statement that the wall is unnecessary in their specific location. This is not merely implied but clearly stated. The colon suggests what follows will justify this assertion.

"He is all pine and I am apple orchard" uses descriptions to distinguish between the two properties. "All pine" suggests uniform, wild nature; "apple orchard" suggests cultivation, human production.

"My apple trees will never get across / And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him" is the speaker's practical argument: the wall serves no purpose because the properties' plants cannot harm each other. Apple trees do not cross boundaries or consume pine cones. The argument is logical, humorous, and irrefutable.

"He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'" reveals the neighbor's unchanging response. "Only says" suggests repetition without reflection. He does not engage with the speaker's logic but instead retreats to tradition.

"Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder" reveals the speaker's playful impulse. Spring, traditionally associated with renewal and youthful energy, fills the speaker with a mischievous desire to challenge tradition.

Lines 29-35: The Challenge to Traditional Thinking

If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
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.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

"If I could put a notion in his head:" shows the speaker's hope to inspire his neighbor to question the wall's necessity. The speaker wants intellectual revolution—to make the neighbor think.

"'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it / Where there are cows? But here there are no cows'" shows the speaker's logical deconstruction of the proverb. The speaker suggests the saying might apply where livestock must be contained but not here. This is the core of his argument: the wall serves no purpose where there are no cows to contain.

"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" articulates the speaker's philosophy: walls should serve clear purposes and should not arbitrarily separate people or give offense.

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall," repeats the opening line, creating circular structure and reminding us of the mysterious force against walls.

Lines 36-45: The Elves, Self-Discovery, and Final Repetition

That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

"That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him," introduces a whimsical option: the speaker could explain that "elves" (folk mythology creatures) destroy the wall. This is a critical passage—"elves" might represent the romantic, imaginative, or magical explanation for the wall's destruction.

"But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather / He said it for himself" reveals the speaker's deeper motivation. He does not want to impose an explanation on the neighbor. Rather, he wants the neighbor to come to understanding independently. The speaker values intellectual independence and self-discovery over easy answers.

"I see him there / Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top / In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed" describes the neighbor in dramatic terms. The comparison to an "old-stone savage" is striking—the neighbor is primitive, ancient, armed for battle. His grip on the stones "firmly by the top" shows determination and strength.

"He moves in darkness as it seems to me, / Not of woods only and the shade of trees" contrasts literal darkness (of the woods) with metaphorical darkness—intellectual darkness. The neighbor is not merely physically obscured but intellectually limited, unable or unwilling to see beyond tradition.

"He will not go behind his father's saying" reveals the core of the neighbor's character: he will not examine or question inherited wisdom. He clings to his "father's saying"—a traditional maxim passed down through generations. The phrase "go behind" means to look beyond or examine critically.

"And he likes having thought of it so well / He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors'" shows the neighbor's satisfaction with having found an explanation. He repeats the final line with confidence, pleased with his response. The poem ends with the neighbor's unchanged position—tradition defeats questioning.

Mending Wall – Word Notes

Something there is: An unspecified, mysterious entity. The vagueness allows readers to project their own interpretation onto what opposes walls.

Frozen-ground-swell: The expansion of water in soil as it freezes in winter. A natural force that weakens the wall from beneath, demonstrating nature's power against human construction.

Spills: Scatters, tumbles, or throws violently. Suggests the boulders are expelled by the force of frost with power and inevitability.

Pass abreast: Walk side by side. The gaps in the wall are large enough for two people to walk through together, indicating the scale of nature's destruction.

Hunters: Those who pursue wild game for sport. They damage the wall seeking rabbits, prioritizing entertainment over preserving boundaries.

Not one stone on a stone: A biblical phrase (echoing Jesus's prophecy about the Temple) meaning complete destruction. The hunters obliterate the wall entirely in their pursuit.

Yelping dogs: Hunting dogs that pursue rabbits. Their sound and presence emphasize the hunters' pursuit of pleasure and sport.

Mending-time: The annual spring ritual when the wall is repaired. Suggests routine, cyclical restoration of damaged boundaries.

Let my neighbor know: The speaker takes initiative to contact the neighbor. This is crucial—despite questioning the wall, the speaker maintains it and initiates its annual repair.

Walk the line: Move along the wall's length together. "Line" suggests the boundary, the separation, the demarcation between properties.

Set the wall between us once again: Restore the boundary. The phrase emphasizes the wall's primary function—to separate and divide.

Keep the wall between us as we go: Maintain distance while working together. Even during cooperation, the wall separates them on opposite sides.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each: Each man repairs his own side. This division of labor reflects and reinforces the wall's separation of properties and people.

Loaves and balls: Descriptions of stone shapes—flat/bread-like and round. The variety of shapes creates balancing challenges.

Spell: A magical incantation meant to make stones stay balanced. The word suggests playfulness, superstition, and the ritualistic nature of the work.

Stay where you are until our backs are turned: The magical formula chanted to make stones balance. Humorous and childlike, suggesting the work is partly game.

Out-door game: Positions wall-mending as recreation or sport rather than serious work. The tone is half-amused, questioning the activity's significance.

One on a side: Two competitors on opposite sides of a boundary. Suggests the wall-mending is partly adversarial or at least competitive.

Comes to little more: Amounts to very little; accomplishes little. Suggests futility—the cycle repeats without deeper purpose.

There where it is we do not need the wall: CRITICAL LINE. Direct, explicit statement that the wall is unnecessary in their specific location. This is the speaker's most forceful and clear assertion that the wall lacks purpose.

He is all pine and I am apple orchard: Descriptions distinguishing the two properties by vegetation and character.

Eat the cones: A humorous image suggesting the speaker's trees might cross the wall and consume the neighbor's pines. The absurdity emphasizes the wall's unnecessary function.

Good fences make good neighbors: A traditional proverb suggesting boundaries foster healthy relationships. The neighbor repeats this without questioning or examining its validity.

Spring is the mischief in me: Spring fills the speaker with playful desire to challenge tradition and conventions. Mischief suggests youthful energy and subversive intention.

Put a notion in his head: Inspire the neighbor to think, question, and challenge tradition. The speaker hopes to instill intellectual rebellion.

Where there are cows: The logical context where the wall-mending proverb applies. Where livestock must be contained, walls make sense and are good neighbors.

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know: The speaker's philosophical principle: walls should serve clear purposes and should not arbitrarily separate people.

Walling in or walling out: The two functions of walls—enclosing what belongs to you or excluding what does not. The speaker questions which function applies.

Give offense: Cause harm or disrespect. The speaker suggests that walls might offend those excluded by them.

Elves: Whimsical folk creatures from mythology. The speaker considers suggesting elves as the romantic explanation for the wall's destruction but ultimately rejects this.

I'd rather / He said it for himself: The speaker prefers that the neighbor come to understanding independently rather than accepting the speaker's explanation. Emphasizes respect for intellectual autonomy.

Old-stone savage armed: A dramatic, almost violent comparison. Suggests the neighbor is primitive, ancient, armed for conflict. The neighbor becomes almost mythic and powerful.

Moves in darkness: Travels in dim light, but more importantly, moves intellectually in darkness. The neighbor is unable or unwilling to see beyond tradition.

Not of woods only and the shade of trees: Contrasts literal darkness (natural shadow) with metaphorical darkness (intellectual limitation). The neighbor's darkness is spiritual and intellectual, not merely physical.

Will not go behind his father's saying: Will not examine, question, or look beyond inherited wisdom. The neighbor clings to traditional sayings without critical thought. "Go behind" means to look beneath or examine critically.

Likes having thought of it so well: Pleased with his explanation and satisfied with its adequacy. The neighbor is confident in his response and sees no need for further reflection.

Publication

"Mending Wall" was first published in 1914 in Robert Frost's second collection of poetry, "North of Boston." The collection was initially published in London, England, by David Nutt, and was not released in the United States until 1915. Frost had moved to England in 1912 to seek publishers more receptive to his work. "North of Boston" opened with "Mending Wall" as the first poem, giving it prominence within the collection.

The poem was inspired by Frost's experience as a farmer in New Hampshire, where he worked a small farm and regularly encountered the property line with his French-Canadian neighbor, Napoleon Guay. Guay frequently quoted the saying "Good fences make good neighbors" during their walks along the wall, providing the seed for Frost's poem. Though Frost's farming ultimately failed economically, it provided rich material for his poetry.

"Mending Wall" has become one of Frost's most famous and widely anthologized poems. It appears in countless poetry collections and is taught in schools and universities worldwide. The poem's accessibility combined with its philosophical depth has made it enduringly popular, though readers continue to interpret it in different ways—some emphasizing the necessity of boundaries, others emphasizing the foolishness of tradition without purpose.

Context

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was born in San Francisco but moved to New England as a teenager, where he spent most of his life and developed his characteristic poetic voice. Before achieving literary success, Frost worked as a farmer, teacher, and writer, struggling for years with financial instability and lack of professional recognition. He was nearly 40 years old when he achieved his first significant literary success.

In 1912, Frost made a decisive move: he sold his failing farm in New Hampshire and moved his family to England to pursue publishing. He carried manuscripts he had written but could not place in American publishers. In England, with help from expatriate American poet Ezra Pound and others, Frost found publishers receptive to his work. "A Boy's Will" (1913) was his first published collection, followed by "North of Boston" (1914), which included "Mending Wall" and established him as a major literary figure.

"Mending Wall" was written during a period of social transition in America. The early 20th century saw rapid industrialization, technological change, and social upheaval. Traditional rural life was giving way to modern urban existence. Frost's poetry, rooted in rural New England, represents a nostalgic return to pastoral landscapes even as it questions the wisdom and necessity of rural traditions. The poem's focus on an apparently useless wall, maintained through tradition alone, reflects broader cultural anxieties about blind adherence to outdated customs.

The poem was also written during World War I, when national boundaries became increasingly significant and contested. While the poem does not directly address the war, its meditation on walls and boundaries resonates with the historical moment when borders were literally drawn in blood and millions died over territorial claims. Frost's questioning of the wall's purpose reflects a broader modernist skepticism toward received traditions and inherited certainties.

Setting

The setting of "Mending Wall" is rural New England, specifically inspired by Frost's experience as a farmer in New Hampshire. The poem is set in the early spring when snow has melted and the farmers begin their annual task of repairing the stone wall between their properties. The specific location is never named, maintaining the poem's universal applicability—this could be any rural, pastoral landscape where property lines are marked by walls.

The physical setting encompasses both the properties themselves (one with apple orchard, one with pines) and the wall that separates them. The poem moves along the wall—"we walk the line"—so the setting is essentially linear, a boundary between two territories. The natural landscape changes with the seasons, but the wall remains the constant focal point.

The historical setting is important: the poem was written during a period of rapid social change in early-20th-century America (1914). This was the beginning of World War I, a time when national boundaries were becoming increasingly significant and contested. The poem's meditation on boundaries and walls resonates with this historical moment of global tension over territory and borders.

Title

"Mending Wall" takes its title from the central action of the poem: two neighbors meeting in spring to repair the deteriorating stone wall between their properties. The title emphasizes restoration, the repetitive act of fixing what is broken, the cyclical nature of maintaining boundaries. Yet the title is ironically simple—it suggests a straightforward poem about property maintenance, concealing the complex philosophical questions the poem raises.

The title's simplicity mirrors the poem's apparent simplicity: a narrative about two farmers and a wall. Yet both the title and the poem open onto deeper questions about the purpose and value of boundaries, the tension between tradition and reason, and the nature of human relationships. The title's ordinariness is deceptive—it is about much more than simply mending a wall.

Notably, "Mending Wall" does not resolve its central question. The wall is mended annually, yet it fails annually. The title suggests repetitive action without progress or resolution. The neighbors keep performing the same action—mending—without questioning whether the wall should exist at all. The title captures this paradox of circular, unquestioned repetition.

Form and Language

"Mending Wall" is written in blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line with alternating unstressed and stressed beats). Blank verse is the traditional form of English dramatic verse, associated with Shakespeare and other classical dramatists. By using this formal, classical meter for a poem about two rural farmers and a stone wall, Frost elevates the ordinary to the level of high literature. The form enacts a tension between the grand classical tradition and the humble subject matter.

However, Frost frequently disrupts the regular iambic pentameter with variations and substitutions, creating a natural, conversational rhythm that mimics the actual speech of rural New England farmers. This tension between formal perfection and colloquial variation mirrors the poem's thematic tension between inherited tradition (the formal meter, the proverb) and individual questioning (the variations, the speaker's skepticism).

The poem consists of 45 lines arranged without stanzas—one continuous narrative flow. This lack of stanzaic structure creates a conversational, almost prose-like quality while maintaining the formal meter. The effect is to make a philosophical meditation seem like casual speech, a neighbor describing an ordinary rural activity.

Frost's language is deliberately simple, conversational, and colloquial. He uses everyday vocabulary, natural speech patterns, and local New England dialect. The speaker addresses the reader intimately, drawing us into his thoughts and questions. Phrases like "Oh, just another kind of out-door game" and "Spring is the mischief in me" feel like authentic speech. Yet beneath this apparent simplicity lies sophisticated philosophical questioning about tradition, purpose, and human connection.

Meter and Rhyme

"Mending Wall" is written in blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter. Most lines contain ten syllables arranged in five iambs (unstressed-stressed pairs). However, Frost varies this pattern frequently, using trochees (stressed-unstressed), spondees (two stressed syllables), and other metrical variations to achieve a natural, conversational sound.

Because the poem uses blank verse rather than rhyming verse, it lacks traditional rhyme scheme. This choice is significant: rhyming poetry tends toward closure and resolution; the rhyme sounds echo each other and create a sense of completion. Blank verse, by contrast, continues indefinitely without the sonic closure that rhyme provides. This mirrors the poem's theme—the wall-mending process continues indefinitely, repeated annually without resolution or progress.

Key metrical moments include the opening line "Something there is that doesn't love a wall" which emphasizes "Something" and "wall" through stress, making these key concepts prominent. The line "There where it is we do not need the wall:" uses emphatic stresses on "There," "do," and "not," making the speaker's assertion of the wall's unnecessary nature ring with conviction. The final line "He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors'" uses emphatic stresses on "says," "Good," "fences," "good," and "neighbors," making the repeated proverb ring with authority despite the speaker's skepticism about its validity.

The lack of rhyme and the irregular metrical variations create a sense of unresolved tension and ongoing question. The poem does not resolve neatly or close with satisfaction; instead, it ends with the neighbor's unchanging response, leaving the philosophical question open to the reader.

Mending Wall – Themes

Theme 1: The Necessity and Futility of Boundaries

The central theme is the paradoxical nature of boundaries. Walls are built to separate and define property, yet they require constant maintenance against natural forces (frost) and human activity (hunters). The wall in the poem is regularly destroyed and regularly repaired, suggesting that boundaries are both necessary to civilization and fundamentally futile—they must be continuously reestablished because natural and human forces resist them.

Theme 2: Tradition vs. Rational Questioning

The poem explores the tension between inherited tradition and individual reasoning. The neighbor clings to the proverb "Good fences make good neighbors" without examining its applicability to the specific situation. The speaker, by contrast, questions the tradition, asking logical questions: Where there are no cows, why maintain the wall? Yet the neighbor "will not go behind his father's saying," refusing to examine tradition rationally.

Theme 3: The Irony of Proximity and Connection Through Separation

A paradox runs through the poem: the wall simultaneously separates and connects the neighbors. They meet annually to maintain the wall, work together on this joint project, engage in what might be called community-building, yet the wall itself prevents genuine closeness. "We keep the wall between us as we go"—the wall maintains their distance even as they cooperate to preserve it. Thus, the wall that was supposed to enable good neighborliness through separation actually prevents genuine connection.

Theme 4: Nature's Resistance to Human Boundaries

The poem emphasizes that nature itself opposes walls. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall"—the repeated line suggests an elemental force in nature that resists human attempts to divide and demarcate. Frost and hunters repeatedly destroy the wall, and the neighbors repeatedly repair it, suggesting an endless cycle of human efforts to impose order on nature's preference for openness and dissolution.

Theme 5: The Burden of Unexamined Tradition

The poem critiques blind adherence to tradition. The neighbor maintains the wall not from understanding its purpose but from inherited custom. The speaker observes that the neighbor "likes having thought of it so well" and is satisfied with the proverb as justification—he has no need to think further. This satisfaction with inherited wisdom, rather than active reasoning, is presented as a limitation.

Theme 6: The Value of Intellectual Independence and Self-Discovery

The speaker's rejection of simply telling the neighbor about "elves" or imposing any explanation reveals the poem's valuation of intellectual independence. The speaker would "rather / He said it for himself," believing that understanding achieved through one's own thinking is more valuable than accepting someone else's explanation. This theme suggests that wisdom requires active intellectual engagement, not passive acceptance.

Mending Wall – Major Symbols

Symbol 1: The Wall

The stone wall is the poem's central symbol, representing all kinds of boundaries—physical, emotional, social, political, and intellectual. The wall separates properties and people, yet it requires constant maintenance and resists natural destruction. The wall symbolizes both the need for order and definition in society and the human tendency toward futile repetition of tradition.

Symbol 2: Frost

Winter frost and the frozen-ground-swell represent nature's resistance to human construction and boundary-making. Frost is the primary natural force that damages the wall each year. More broadly, frost symbolizes time, decay, the inevitable erosion of human works, and the forces that resist human attempts to impose order on nature.

Symbol 3: Hunters and Rabbits

Hunters pursuing rabbits symbolize human activity that disrupts established order. They damage the wall in pursuit of sport and pleasure, prioritizing their own desires over the maintenance of boundaries. They represent a different kind of human force than the neighbor's traditional maintenance—they are active, destructive, purposeful, whereas the neighbor is passive, preserving, reactive.

Symbol 4: Apple Trees and Pine Trees

The two types of trees symbolize the properties' different characters. Apple trees represent cultivation, human ordering of nature, agriculture, production. Pines represent natural, wild character, indigenous growth. Together, they suggest that the wall separates fundamentally different approaches to nature—one agricultural and human, one wild and natural.

Symbol 5: The Proverb "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"

The repeated proverb symbolizes traditional wisdom, inherited sayings, and the power of language to shape thinking. The proverb is presented without examination or justification; its mere utterance seems to settle the question. Yet the speaker questions whether the proverb is applicable to this specific situation, suggesting that traditional wisdom, while powerful, may not always serve current reality.

Symbol 6: Spring

"Spring is the mischief in me"—spring symbolizes renewal, youth, the impulse toward growth, change, and questioning. Spring contrasts with the neighbor's fixed, unchanging commitment to tradition. Spring brings both the damage requiring mending and the speaker's impulse to challenge tradition.

Symbol 7: Elves

The speaker's consideration of saying "elves" to explain the wall's destruction represents the romantic, imaginative, or mythological explanation for natural phenomena. By considering and then rejecting the "elves" explanation, the speaker acknowledges that there are multiple ways of understanding reality—magical and rational—but chooses not to impose any single interpretation on the neighbor.

Symbol 8: Light and Darkness

"He moves in darkness as it seems to me, / Not of woods only and the shade of trees." The neighbor's darkness symbolizes intellectual limitation, inability or unwillingness to see beyond tradition. The speaker's implicit light represents rational questioning, the ability to see beyond inherited wisdom.

Mending Wall – Major Literary Devices

Literary Device 1: Irony

Definition: Meaning contradicted by context or expectation; the gap between what appears to be true and what actually is true.

Example: The wall that is supposed to "make good neighbours" actually prevents close connection between them; the speaker who questions the wall is the one who initiates its maintenance.

Explanation: Irony pervades the poem. The wall designed to separate and enable healthy distance simultaneously separates the neighbors from genuine connection. The speaker's skepticism about the wall does not prevent him from actively maintaining it. The irony creates the poem's central tension.

Literary Device 2: Paradox

Definition: A seemingly contradictory statement that may contain truth.

Example: The wall both separates and connects the neighbors; the most mysterious force against the wall is never seen or heard.

Explanation: Paradox captures the poem's philosophical complexity. Walls are necessary for social order yet fundamentally futile against natural forces. Community requires both connection and separation.

Literary Device 3: Personification

Definition: Giving human characteristics to non-human things.

Example: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall" personifies an abstract force; "Spring is the mischief in me" personifies the season as having human qualities.

Explanation: Personification makes abstract concepts seem alive and active. The wall is opposed by forces with agency and intention, making barriers seem futile against active opposition.

Literary Device 4: Metaphor

Definition: A direct comparison between two things without using "like" or "as."

Example: The wall symbolizes all kinds of boundaries (social, emotional, political); darkness represents intellectual limitation.

Explanation: Metaphor extends the poem's reach beyond the literal wall to encompass broader human concerns. The physical wall becomes a vehicle for exploring abstract concepts about society and human nature.

Literary Device 5: Simile

Definition: A comparison between two things using "like" or "as."

Example: The neighbor is described as "like an old-stone savage armed"; he "moves in darkness as it seems to me."

Explanation: Similes make the neighbor seem primitive and powerful, suggesting that adherence to tradition carries its own kind of strength and inevitability.

Literary Device 6: Alliteration

Definition: Repetition of beginning consonant sounds in nearby words.

Example: "frozen-ground-swell," "boulders in the sun," "spills the upper," "loaves and ... balls."

Explanation: Alliteration creates sonic cohesion and emphasizes key concepts through sound patterns. The repetition of "s" sounds in "spills," "sun," and "spell" creates a hissing quality.

Literary Device 7: Blank Verse

Definition: Unrhymed iambic pentameter, the traditional form of English dramatic verse.

Example: The entire poem uses blank verse rather than a rhyming form.

Explanation: Blank verse elevates the ordinary to the classical level while its lack of rhyme mirrors the poem's lack of resolution. The formal meter contradicts the casual, colloquial content, creating productive tension.

Literary Device 8: Colloquial Language and Tone

Definition: Conversational, informal language and tone that mimics actual speech.

Example: "Oh, just another kind of out-door game," "Spring is the mischief in me," the neighbor simply "says" rather than declaims.

Explanation: Colloquial language makes the philosophical meditation seem like natural speech, drawing readers into the speaker's thoughts as intimate conversation rather than formal argument.

Literary Device 9: Repetition

Definition: Repeating words, phrases, or lines for emphasis and effect.

Example: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall" appears in the opening and near the end; "Good fences make good neighbors" is repeated multiple times.

Explanation: Repetition emphasizes key concepts and suggests the cyclical, repetitive nature of the wall-mending process. The repeated lines create a circular structure that mirrors the annual repetition of the mending ritual.

Literary Device 10: Ambiguity

Definition: Meaning that is intentionally unclear or capable of multiple interpretations.

Example: The poem does not clearly state whether the speaker or the neighbor is right; the nature of "something" that doesn't love the wall is never explicitly defined; the final resolution is ambiguous.

Explanation: Ambiguity prevents readers from settling on a single interpretation. The poem invites readers to decide for themselves whether walls are necessary, whether tradition should be questioned, whether the neighbor or the speaker is wiser. This ambiguity makes the poem enduringly thought-provoking.