Mending Wall Group

Question:

quail
quail
Student
College - Senior

Explain lines 12 to 17 in "Mending Wall".

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Posted by quail on Monday June 15, 2009 at 11:25 PM and tagged with explanation, literature, mending wall.

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  1. epollock Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    quail,

    Frost's "Mending Wall" is an iconic poem about barriers. Lines 12 to 17 are:

    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

    In line eleven, Frost states that he gets together with his neighbor to repair the wall with him. This line begins the entrance of the main character in the poem. The poet’s story becomes more dramatic. The line suggests that Frost looked forward to meeting his neighbor. The narrator wanted to break his isolation. He doesn't show much concern for the wall.

    "To walk the line" and "set the wall between us' (13,14) refer to the building of a boundary between the neighbor's properties. These phrases are also figurative and represent the setting of a barrier in the neighbors’' friendship. When they meet to repair the wall, the narrator and neighbor repair their friendship and resolve disputes.

    In line fifteen, Frost demonstrates that he and his neighbor remain separate. The manner in which the two of them restore the wall shows their isolation. Their formal behavior is based on the neighbor’s formality. It is not based on dislike or distrust but on custom.

    "To each the boulders have fallen to each" (16) reveals that faults lie on the behalf of both neighbors. The metaphor in line seventeen compares their disputes to loaves and balls -- some are small and some are large. 

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/mending-wall-salem

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    Posted by epollock on Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 1:06 AM