READ THIS
Every year in spring, the poet and his neighbour walk along the stone wall which separates their
two farms and they repair the wall -- putting back the stones which have rolled off.
The poet asks questions about how the wall might have fallen down in the first place -- making
a game of it by suggesting such things as the elves having done it.
The two men, however, have very different ideas about the purpose of the wall: the poet sees
no need for it because it acts as a barrier between them, while the neighbour believes that the
wall keeps the good relationship going between the owners of the separate farms.
ABOUT THE POET
Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. At the age of 11, he moved to New England,
and it would be there that he would attain his rural poetic flair.
He attended Harvard University, where he married Elinor White. His grandfather bought them
a farm where they would stay for some nine years and where he would work early in the
mornings writing many of the poems which made him famous.
In 1912, Frost moved to England where he would flesh out his poetic ability and come under
the influence of several English poets -- and also of the American, Ezra Pound.
In 1915, soon after the Great War began, Frost and his wife returned to America and bought
a farm in New Hampshire. There the poet spent much of his time writing and teaching. From
1916 through to 1938 he lectured English at Amherst College.
Frost was already 86 when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States
of America. The poet was invited to attend and to speak at the function. It was the final
moment of an illustrious life. Two years later -- in January 1963 -- he died from blood clots to
his lungs.
"Mending Wall" was written in 1916 and describes an incident on his farm in New
Hampshire. He would use the expression, "Good fences made good neighbours", an
idea which he himself clearly despised -- and yet the quote has gone on to be used ever since
in a most positive light.
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
"I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself."
- What does the poet mean by this? (4)
[Need help?]
Elves are, of course, magical creatures. Who is it that puts the magic into the forests?
Yet the poet recognises that perhaps the breaking down of the walls is not quite the thing that
elves would do. Their magic tends to be constructive rather than destructive.
In any case, if the elves did break down the wall, that would destroy the idea that Jack Frost --
and Robert Frost -- did it.
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- Why would the poet rather the neighbour said this himself? (4)
[Need help?]
Why would Frost prefer it if his neighbour came out with the idea first? Well, would you tell a
rather traditional person who certainly doesn't believe in magic that elves and magic were
responsible for his wall falling down? At least if the neighbour said it first, it would indicate that
he is becoming more open to new ideas.
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"I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me --
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.' "
- What does the speaker mean when he describes his neighbour as "an old-stone
savage"? (4)
[Need help?]
There are several connotations to "old-stone savage". A savage is an uneducated,
uncivilized person.
On the other hand, the word "Old-stone" connotes someone who is so out of date that
he is akin to a stone-age person.
All of this indicates that the author sees his neighbour is hopelessly traditional and backward
in his ideas.
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- In what way does the neighbour "move in darkness"? (4)
[Need help?]
There is a dialectic here of light and darkness. The light represents the good. It represents
modern, good ideas. One speaks of someone as being "enlightened". The dark, on the
other hand, represents backwardness and the failure to be a forward thinker.
The neighbour fails to see the relevance of nature, cannot recognise the need to open up
spaces instead of closing them off. He has no real reason for wanting a fence except that that
was the type of thing which his father would have wanted.
The neighbour is therefore trapped in the past, caught up in old, out-of-date ideas. He
therefore "moves in darkness".
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Comment on the irony of the expression, "Good fences make good neighbors" as it is
revealed in this poem. (4)
[Need help?]
The irony is that it is the neighbour who believes that "good fences make good
neighbors". The poet is totally opposed to the idea -- and indeed wishes that the wall could
be pulled down. Walls cause divisions, divide nature, divide people.
And yet, ever since Robert Frost coined this phrase, it has been used as if it were true, as if
good fences do indeed make good neighbours. Surely, if Frost had known how his expression
would become an idiomatic phrase in life, he would not have used it at all?
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Is it true that "good fences make good neighbours"? (30)
[Need help?]
This is a very good debating point. The neighbour certainly thinks that it is true. Robert Frost,
on the other hand, disagrees entirely and would -- if he could -- have torn down all the walls so
as to allow nature to be free. What is your opinion on this subject?
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