Mending Wall Introduction :
“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost is a timeless and thought-provoking poem that delves into the complexities of human relationships, boundaries, and traditions. This iconic work invites readers into a rural setting, where two neighbors meet annually to repair the stone wall that separates their properties. However, as the poem unfolds, it becomes clear that the act of mending the wall is more than a simple chore; it is a profound exploration of the barriers we create and the bridges we must consider in our interactions with others. Read More Class 12 English Summaries.
Mending Wall About The Author :
– Robert Frost
Robert Frost (1874-1963) is an American poet. He is well-known for his poems which are in a colloquial style. His poems begin in delight and end in wisdom. He has received the Pulitzer Prize a number of times. “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowing Evening” and ‘Road Not Taken” are two of his most famous poems. Our Jawaharlal Nehru had these lines inscribed and kept on his table: “The woods are lovely dark and deep, And I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.” These lines are from ‘Stopping the Woods….” by Robert Frost.
Mending Wall Summary
Lines 1 … 11 (Something we find them there.)
There is something that does not like walls. It makes the frozen ground under the wall expand. Because of this expansion, the wall gets cracks, making the upper stones of the wall fall down on to the sides. Gaps are made as the stones fall off the wall. Sometimes gaps are big enough to let even two people pass, walking side by side. Hunters also encroach through the gaps. I come after them and repair the broken walls. Sometimes the wall is so damaged that even two stones, one on top of the other, are not found. Somehow the hunters would bring into the open the hiding rabbits to make the barking dogs happy. (There is some fun in the statement here. It is actually the dogs that bark and scare the rabbits out of their hiding places. But the poet says the hunters bring out the rabbits by destroying the wall to please their hunting dogs.) No one ever sees or hears anybody making gaps in the wall by making the stones fall down. But in the Spring Season, which is the repair time for walls, the gaps would be found. Nobody knows how these gaps come or who makes them.
mending wall summary notes
Lines 12-20 (I let my neighbour…. with handling them.)
I inform my neighbour, who lives on the side of the hill, about the gaps in the wall. We decide to meet one day and walk along the wall so that once again we can set it up. Then stones have fallen to both sides of the wall. He would pick up the stones fallen on his side and I would pick up that ori my side and set them up again on the wall. The fallen stones have lost their original shape. Some of them look like loaves of bread whereas others look like balls. To balance them on the wall, we need some kind of magic. We command them: “Stay there till we turn our back on you!” (There is also some fun here. They know the stones will not stay on the wall for long. They simply want them to stay there at least till their backs are turned on them.)
mending wall summary pdf
Lines 21 -34: (Oh, just to give offence.)
By lifting the stones and placing them on the wall our fingers become rough and painful. Consider it an outdoor game between us, one player standing on one side of the wall and the other standing on the other side. It means nothing more than that. There are also places where we do not actually need a wall. His area is covered with pine trees and my area is full of apple trees. My apple trees will never go to his area to eat the cones of his pines. I tell him that. But then he tells me that it is good fences that make god neighbours. Mischief grows in me and I want to put some better idea into his mind. So I ask him how good fences can make good neighbours. Good fences are okay if we were growing cows to prevent them from getting mixed up. But here we do not rear cows. So what is the need for a fence? Before I built a wall I would try to find out what I was keeping in and what I was keeping out and whom I would offend by making the wall.
Lines 35-45 (Something there is ….make good neighbours.)
It seems there is something that does not like a wall. It wants the wall pulled down. I would say it was elves that wanted the wall to be broken. But I know it is not elves that did it. I wanted him to tell me what it is that did not like the wall. As I contemplate like this I can see him carrying two stones holding them firmly in each hand. To me he looked like an uncivilized man from the Old Stone Age Era, whose weapon was stone. He is moving in the darkness of trees and their shade. He is not yet ready to give up his father’s saying although he has thought about it so well. Once again he repeats that good fences make good neighbours. (Reft also there is great fun. Frost pictures the neighbour with the stones as a Stone Age man using stones as his weapon. He is not ready to become civilized as he still wants to live in the darkness of the Stone Age.)
Conclusion :
“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost offers readers a poignant meditation on the complexities of human relationships and the enigmatic nature of boundaries. Through the act of repairing a stone wall, Frost weaves a narrative that transcends the mundane task, inviting us to contemplate the metaphorical walls we erect in our lives.