SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Teacher Education

ACCESS Campus, EJC Montilla, Tacurong City

ENG 221: Literary Criticism

Second Semester, S.Y. 2023 – 2024

Name: PEÑOL, ELLAINE A. Course/Year/Section: BSED – ENGLISH 2A

Poem: Mending Wall

By: Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, We have to use a spell to make them
balance:
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under
it, ‘Stay where you are until our backs are
turned!’
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
We wear our fingers rough with handling
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
them.
The work of hunters is another thing:

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

I have come after them and made repair
One on a side. It comes to little more:
Where they have left not one stone on a
There where it is we do not need the wall:
stone,
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
But they would have the rabbit out of
hiding, My apple trees will never get across
To please the yelping dogs. And eat the cones under his pines, I tell
him.
The gaps I mean,
He only says, ‘Good fences make good
No one has seen them made or heard them
neighbors.’
made,
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
But at spring mending-time we find them
there. ‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line Where there are cows? But here there are
no cows.
And set the wall between us once again.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
We keep the wall between us as we go.
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
To each the boulders that have fallen to
each. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
And some are loaves and some so nearly
balls
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to
him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather He will not go behind his father’s saying,
He said it for himself. I see him there And he likes having thought of it so well
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top He says again, ‘Good fences make good
neighbors.’
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.

Language
 The language used in the poem “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost was simple and
almost colloquial folk language. As with many of his renowned poems appears to
be uncomplicated and quick to understand on the surface, and his consistent
descriptions of nature make it enjoyable to read. The lack of complex words in
‘gives the poem a strong conversational element, imitating the neighbors’
interaction. It illuminates how the speaker and a neighbor meet to restore a
stone wall between their properties—a ritual repeated every spring.
Structure
 The poem consists of a 46-line stanza written in blank verse. At first, reading the
lengthy text may seem challenging, but Frost's narrative style draws the reader
in and makes the poem more engaging. The wall serves as the poem's main
focal point, and its significance is developed up to the last line.
Tone
 In his poem “Mending Wall,” Robert Frost develops his ideas about traditions
through a variety of imaginative poetic devices and tone shifts. Irony, humor, and
questioning are the three main ones that are used. The speaker presents several
points of worry regarding the wall that is being rebuilt. For example, “Something
there is that doesn’t love a wall”, is used to question what despises the wall’s
presence. He continues by discussing the earth’s swells that make gaps in the
wall, as well as the hunters, “not leaving a stone on a stone,” merely to please
the yelping dogs with a rabbit. In line thirty, the speaker questions, “Why do they
make good neighbors” because he believes that the wall is interfering with a
possible relationship with his neighbor. Another key question asked is “What I
was walling in or walling out,” to exhibit that there is no difference when the wall
is constructed or not, both neighbors’ tasks are completed and no harm is done.
He also expands irony through his shifts in tone within the “Mending Wall.” The
irony is most striking in lines fourteen and fifteen, “And set the wall between us
once again, “We keep the wall between us as we go.” The speaker now
perceives that the wall separates the neighbors, but also unifies them at
mending time, to place themselves away once again. Other ironical situations
are developed by the speaker’s tone of questioning thus the ability to initiate
thoughts. The speaker does not understand the wall’s presence in the early parts
of the poem before finally starting to think for himself and convey his views
regarding the wall. Furthermore, the poem makes extensive use of humor in
numerous instances.
Theme
 The theme of the poem Mending Wall is the challenge of change in our society.
Social norms and traditions can hold significance at times, but Robert Frost
demonstrates the difficulty in altering them once they get embedded in a
community. It uses two individuals with seemingly opposing ideas to give
reasons for and against the construction of walls. The speaker makes the
 argument against walls, claiming that they might offend people and create
needless separation. The neighbor is unwavering in his opposition to the idea
that harmonious relationships require walls. Since he makes the point that
barriers are unnecessary, the speaker believes that people are innately kind.
The neighbor, on the other hand, seems to have a bit more pessimistic view of
humanity and suggests that barriers can help prevent the inevitable conflicts that
occur between people.
Imagery
 “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost presents several images. First was the irony
wherein makes it challenging to understand the poem’s intended meaning.
Normally, walls are built to keep people apart and safeguard property, but in this
poem, the wall and its reconstruction provide two neighbors with a cause to get
together and behave like civilized neighbors. He also uses symbolism that lets
him create a poem that reads effortlessly while being rich with layers of meaning.

Walls
-The usage of walls or fences represents a physical border between properties.
Fences are necessary for landowners to preserve borders and safeguard their
property. The boundaries that exist in interpersonal interactions can also be
symbolized by the wall. The speaker plays devil’s advocate by casting doubt on the
necessity of boundaries to preserve harmonious relationships, whereas the
neighbor believes that they are essential.

An enigmatic or paranormal force

-The speaker brings up the possibility that there is a force that opposes walls. The
cold that brings down the walls, the spells used to maintain the wall’s equilibrium,
and the notion that elves are breaking down the walls covertly are all examples of
how this idea is conveyed. Despite his best efforts to think critically, the speaker
appears to go back to the notion that the walls collapse for no other cause than this
enigmatic power.

Spring
-Each year at the beginning of spring, the wall is rebuilt as part of a custom. Spring
is typically associated with fresh starts and new beginnings. Rebuilding the wall in
the spring is a way to take advantage of the nice weather before the hard winter
arrives.

Literary devices were also present in the poem. Frost purposefully employs
Enjambment in the poem’s suitable passages. When the speaker argues against
walls in line 25, it serves as a good illustration of this.
“My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.”

Assonance was also used to create a pleasant rhythm.

“To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made, “
Narrative Stance
  “Mending Wall’’ does not have a narrator, it does have a speaker who lives in a
clearly rural place and questions the belief of keeping up a wall that keeps
breaking down every year which relates their own thought as well as their
communication with their neighbor while the two mend the wall between their
adjoining properties.
Punctuation
 The use of the comma, colon, quotation marks, semi-colon, exclamation point,
question mark and dot was noticed in the poem to alert the reader that a pause
is needed to improve the reader's comprehension of it.
Title
 Supposing "mending" is used as a verb, the title alludes to the work that the
speaker of the poem and his neighbor do to fix the wall between their two farms.
Given that "mending" is an adjective, the title implies that the wall has a more
subdued purpose: as a "mending" wall, it maintains the two neighbors' positive
connection.

Rhyme Scheme
 Since the poem “Mending Wall” was written in blank verse, it does not have a
recurring rhyme pattern. Robert Frost does, however, occasionally use rhymes
to draw attention to particular passages in the poem. Frost, for instance, uses
slant rhymes.

An example of a slant rhyme is with the words’ line’ and ‘again’ in lines 13 and 14.

“And on a day we meet to walk the line,

And set the wall between us once again.”