Discussion Topic
The symbolic and literal significance of the wall in "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost
Summary:
The wall in "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost symbolizes both physical and emotional barriers between people. Literally, it represents the boundary that divides the properties of the speaker and his neighbor. Symbolically, it highlights the human tendency to create divisions and the paradox of maintaining relationships through separation.
What does the "wall in and wall out" symbolize in Frost's "Mending Wall"?
Frost's poem "Mending Wall" is a contemplative journey through Frost's thoughts as he ponders what purpose the stone wall between him and his neighbor really serves. Personally, he doesn't really see a need for a wall; they don't have cows that will wander into each other's yards, and it's not like his apples will "get across /And eat the cones under his pines". So, he wonders why, every spring, they go about fixing and mending the old stone wall between their plots of land.
In the poem, there is no mention of the Berlin wall; the lines I think that you might be referring to are these:
"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 offence"
Here, Frost thinks that before he builds a wall, he'd like to know why. What...
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purpose does it serve? Is it walling something in, like cows, valuable property on his land, or his own hand of friendship? Is it walling out danger, threats, or on the other hand, potential friends or kindness? He worries that putting up a wall on his land might offend someone, because they might get the impression that Frost doesn't like or trust them.
If you DID want to tie this to the Berlin wall, that wall was constructed to maintain control, to separate realms of power, and it was an awful and destructive force to many families and Germans. Here is an example of a wall that does doe what Frost thinks walls might: restricts, offends, and brings us all back to the age of barbarism, where people fought and killed over boundary lines. I hope those thoughts help; good luck!
What does the wall in "Mending Wall" actually separate?
The wall in Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" separates the neighbor's property of pine trees from the speaker's apple orchard. The speaker observes that one does not need a wall to separate these two areas. Pine trees look nothing like apple trees; it is easy enough to distinguish the two. More importantly, neither owns livestock that might wander into the other's pasture and eat up crops, hay, or any other valuable commodity. The speaker thus concludes that the wall only serves to keep the two neighbors apart. It serves no practical function and does nothing else.
The reason the wall is kept up is only because of tradition; the two neighbors are used to it being there. While the speaker questions the necessity of the wall and admits something within him dislikes its being there, the other neighbor is obstinate about keeping it up. The neighbor repeats his adage, passed down from his father, that "good fences make good neighbors," even though the speaker is unsure of this being the case. Although the two men get along fairly pleasantly while mending the wall, it seems that the only time they are ever together in common activity is when they are fixing the old wall in the springtime.
What are the literal and figurative meanings of the wall in the poem "Mending Wall"?
Literally, the wall functions as a dividing line between the adjoining properties owned by the two men who together mend it every year. It is meant to keep one farmer's livestock from wandering onto the other farmer's property so that the livestock won't eat or destroy the neighbor's plants. However, as the narrator points out, neither one of them has livestock that can wander over to the other person's property.
If there is no practical value to this task, why do it? This moves us into the symbolic or figurative meaning of the wall. Mending the wall and keeping it as a solid dividing line between the two neighbors is a tradition the other farmer has inherited. He learned from his father that good fences make good neighbors. Therefore, each spring, he wants to fully repair to damage to the wall to adhere to what he feels is an important tradition.
The speaker challenges the tradition as foolish. There is no literal need for the wall to separate the properties. He believes the labor of repairing the wall is too hard to justify, despite any symbolic good it might do.
Yet his neighbor clings to the figurative meaning of the ritual. To him, this is more important than the literal value of mending the wall.
The speaker gives in to the other farmer's desire, even though it makes no sense to him. What we witness is a clash of worldviews: for the speaker, a task needs to have a practical value to be worthwhile. For the neighbor, the figurative, traditional value is enough justification.
The title "Mending Wall" has a double meaning: it means, literally, the wall the two neighbors mend every year after it is damaged in the winter. It also stands for the symbolic healing value of the wall as a figurative boundary between the neighbors that keeps their relations mended or in good shape.