Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Short Essay
Introduction:
The poem Mending Wall by Robert Frost was published in 1914 in his book North of Boston. It is about two neighbors who meet every spring to repair the stone wall between their farms. The poem talks about old habits, tradition, and the idea of keeping boundaries.
The Broken Wall:
The poet says that nature does not like walls. The stones fall when the frozen ground swells and leaves big holes. Hunters also break the wall while chasing rabbits. Every spring, the poet and his neighbor come together to fix it. They lift the heavy stones and put them back, each staying on his own side.
Different Ideas:
The poet thinks the wall is not needed. His land has apple trees, and his neighbor has pine trees. The trees cannot harm each other, so there is no reason for a wall. But the neighbor believes in the old saying, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Questioning the Need for Walls:
The poet feels his neighbor does not question old ideas and follows what his father said. The poet says that before he builds any wall, he would like to think carefully. He wants to know what he is trying to keep inside and what he is trying to keep outside. He also wants to consider who might get hurt or offended by putting up the wall.
Conclusion:
The poem shows that walls can separate people. Frost asks us to think before we build barriers that keep us apart.
Mending Wall by Robert Frost in Tamil 👇
Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Detailed Summary
Robert Lee Frost is an American poet. He became famous for writing about countryside life in a very real and natural way. His poems often seem simple and easy to read, but they have deep meanings about life, choices, and people's struggles.
Robert Frost Famous Poems:
⚡Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
⚡After Apple-Picking
⚡The Road Not Taken
⚡The Death of the Hired Man
⚡The Road Not Taken
⚡Fire and Ice
⚡The Oven Bird
About the Poem:
Mending Wall is a poem by Robert Frost. It was published in 1914 in Robert Frost's second poetry collection, North of Boston.
Mend Meaning - to repair something that is damaged or broken.
The poem describes two neighbors who meet each spring to mend the stone wall between their farms; while repairing it the speaker questions the wall’s necessity in some places, but his neighbor insists, “Good fences make good neighbors,” prompting the poem’s exploration of tradition, boundaries, and how people justify separation.
Poem Summary
The poet says that there is some natural force in the world that does not like walls. The stones on top of the wall get loosened and fall down when the frozen ground swells, and lie spread out in the sunlight. This creates big openings in the wall-so wide that even two people can walk through them side by side.
Hunters also damage the wall, but that is a different matter. After hunters pass by, he often has to come and repair the wall. They leave no stone in its place because they pull the wall apart while chasing rabbits. The hunters want to drive the rabbits out of their hiding places inside the wall, just to satisfy their noisy, barking dogs.
The poet explains that the gaps in the wall appear mysteriously. Nobody ever sees or hears them being made. But when spring arrives, and it is time to repair the wall, the gaps are already there waiting to be fixed.
The poet says he informs his neighbor, who lives on the other side of the hill, about the broken wall. Then they choose a day to meet, walk along the wall together, and repair the gaps so the wall stands between their lands once more.
The poet says that while repairing, he and his neighbor each stay on their own side of the wall. They pick up and replace only the stones that have fallen on their own side.
Some stones are shaped like loaves of bread, and some are round like balls, which makes them hard to balance on the wall. So, jokingly, they act as if they are casting a magic spell, telling the stones to stay in place and not fall until after they had left.
The poet says that their fingers become rough and sore from lifting and placing the heavy stones. He compares this wall-mending to just another outdoor game, where each person stands on his own side.
The poet says that the wall feels unnecessary in some places. His neighbor's land is full of pine trees, while his own land is an apple orchard. He explains to his neighbor that his apple trees are not going to cross and eat the pine cones from the pine trees. Still, the neighbor replies with the old saying: "Good fences make good neighbors."
The poet says that because it is spring, he feels playful and a little mischievous. He wonders if he can make his neighbor think about why walls are needed.
He feels walls are only useful if you have cows or animals that might stray into someone else's land. Since there are no cows here, he questions the need for the wall. The poet is teasingly trying to make his neighbor think instead of blindly following the old saying, "Good fences make good neighbors."
The poet says that before he builds any wall, he would like to think carefully. He wants to know what he is trying to keep inside and what he is trying to keep outside. He also wants to consider who might get hurt or offended by putting up the wall.
The poet says that there is some natural force that does not like walls and seems to want to knock them down. He jokingly thinks he could tell his neighbor that elves are causing the gaps, but it's not really elves. He prefers that his neighbor comes to the conclusion on his own.
The poet watches his neighbor picking up stones to repair the wall. The neighbor holds a stone firmly in each hand. Frost compares him to an ancient, strong warrior showing his strength and seriousness while working on the wall.
The poet feels that his neighbor moves in a kind of deep darkness-not just the literal darkness caused by the trees or the forest. This "darkness" also suggests that his neighbor follows old habits or traditions without questioning them.
The poet observes that his neighbor refuses to think beyond the old saying passed down by his father. He feels proud of having this saying ready in his mind and repeats it confidently: "Good fences make good neighbors."
Themes:
✨ Tradition vs. Change
✨ Boundaries and Separation
✨ Nature vs. Human Influence
✨ Friendship and Neighborliness
✨ Questioning Authority
✨ Human Curiosity and Playfulness
✨ Communication and Misunderstanding
✨ The Role of Work and Labor
✨ Symbolism of Walls and Fences
✨ Individual Thinking vs. Blind Conformity
Mending Wall by Robert Frost in Tamil 👇
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