Robert Frosts poem “Mending Wall” is ultimately representing Frosts assessment of society of his time. Throughout the poem we can see evidence of how he thinks people relate when they don’t communicate with one another but have some kind of common link (eg. neighbours. ) The comment that the neighbour makes in the poem, “Good walls make good neighbours” is indicative of the neighbour’s attitude towards relationships. The neighbour wants to be secluded from Frost and live a private life.
Numerous times throughout the poem Frost mentions “gaps” in the wall between the neighbour’s house and his own.The gaps relate to the chances for communication between the neighbours and the wall is representing the barrier between a possible friendship between the neighbours. We as readers can relate to the barriers between neighbours through our own fences. As we see later in the poem it is a mutual agreement that the gaps are patched up again. Once the gaps are patched up again, the neighbours keep to their own devices. “…like an old stone savage armed”.
Frost believes that seclusion between people is hopeless and is an attitude of the past through the statement old stone savage.He conveys the idea that life in harmony between all people is the best way to live. As well as these points he describes his persona in comparison to the neighbour’s persona. “He is all pine and I am all orchard”. A pine tree can be described as old an boring (It is all green and brown) whereas an orchard is extremely interesting, consisting of many different types of fruit and flowers. It once again represents that the neighbours ideas are extremely old and boring of not much meaning in the current time.
