How long does it take to mend the wall in Robert Frost's "Mending Wall"?
In "Mending Wall," it takes the narrator and his neighbor a day to mend the wall between their properties. We know this, because the narrator states:
And on a day we meet to walk the lineAnd set the wall between us once again.
When does the narrator repair the wall alone in "Mending Wall"?
When hunters come through and take the stones down to find a hiding rabbit for their excited ("yelping") dogs, the narrator will come out by himself and fix the wall.
Otherwise, he waits for the annual springtime wall mending ritual with his neighbor. Because the wall divides their property, it seems only fair that they mend it together. However, the narrator is protesting against mending the wall at all. He questions whether they need the wall—a wall is helpful to keep in cattle, but neither of them have cattle. One grows pine, and the other grows apple trees. Because it is unnecessary, the narrator calls the wall-mending ritual a "game."
The neighbor will not hear him, however, simply doggedly repeating a saying he heard from his father: "Good fences make good neighbors."
I wonderIf I could put a notion in his head:"Why do they make good neighbours?..."
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