mending wall by robert lee frost

2. NAME ROBERT LEE FROST (1874-1963)
COUNTRY USA , SAN FRANCISCO
OCCUPATION POET, PLAYWRIGHT
NOTABLE WORK(S) A BOY’S WILL, NORTH OF
BOSTON
ACHIVEMENTS PULITZER PRIZES (1924,31,37,43)

3. Sharon Olds, , won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for
‚Stag’s Leap.‛

4. President John F. Kennedy once says of
Frost,
"He has bequeathed his nation a body
of imperishable verse from which
Americans will forever gain joy and
understanding."

5. Relevant Background
Robert Frost lived most of his life on a farm on the eastern side of
America.
Frost wrote Mending Wall while he was living in England just
before World War One He used the poem to remind himself of his
home in America.
He liked to use language as it is actually spoken.
He is a poet of deep thoughts. Behind his descriptions you can find
spiritual meaning.
He wrote the poem in such a way that it could either be about his
relationship with his neighbour or about relationships with any
one anywhere.

6. OUTLINE OF THE POEM
 The poem is set in the countryside in spring.
 Forty-five-line poem - one verse paragraph - No stanzas
 The use of ‘I’ makes it more like a monologue, a one-person
dramatic speech.
 Frost describes the border between two farms/people
 Explores stubbornness in a conservative farmer who blindly
follows tradition.
 On a deeper level, Mending Wall examines how humans deal
with each other and live isolated lives.

7. 1. A respectful distance between neighbors is the recipe for
harmonious relationships:
‘Good fences make good neighbors’
2. Co-operation between neighbors: ‘I let my neighbour know
beyond the hill’.
3. The futility of a country custom: ‘Oh, just another kind of
outdoor game’.

8.  “Something” is a wishy-washy word, and just
about anything under the sun can qualify as
"something." Even a person.
 By using ‚something‛ instead of ‚someone,‛ our
speaker suggests that humans are not the only
wall-destroying culprits around; there are things
out there as well.
Line 1
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

11. BOULDERS
LOAVES
OF
BREAD
TENNIS
BALLS

13. THE WALL
SEPERATES
THE TWO
BONDS THEM
TOGETHER

14. POSITIVE
Brings the both
together
Opportunity to
interact
NEGATIVE
No real necessity
Primitive or
traditional act

15. Literary Devices
• The title, „Mending Wall‟ itself is an Irony as well as
a Pun
-Irony: the expression of one's meaning by
using language that normally signifies the
opposite
• Situational Irony, perhaps
• A pun: words with different possible meanings
or the fact that there are words which sound
alike but have different meanings

16. • “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”
- Contradictory lines to the title with a thought
process
• The word „Something‟ is used Metaphorically:
-Nature (when Poet talks about nature making Earth
very cold but boulders make a lot of gap after
heating it up, where two can pass easily)
-Human (when he talks about people‟s presence by
giving the example of hunter hunting a rabbit for a
yelping dog than themselves)
-Supernatural power (He mentions elves taking the
wall down as Elves are considered to dislike walls)

17. • Time
- „at spring mending-time‟ highlights the time when the
neighbour and Poet came out to mend their wall.
• Symbolism
A character, an action, a setting, or an object representing
something else can be a symbol.
The „Wall‟ also symbolizes boundaries and
differences between the two
“and set the wall between us again”
• Personification
It refers to the practice of attaching human
traits and characteristics with inanimate
objects, phenomena and animals.
“Apple orchard”
“Pine”
“My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines.”

18. • “Good fences make good neighbours”
Another contradictory lines with a thought process.
• Pun: Another pun used here in the poem in
“offence” = used as „a fence‟
• Repetition: “Something there is that doesn’t like wall”
“Good fences make good
neighbours”

19. SUMMARY
 The stone wall separates the speaker‟s property
from his neighbor‟s
 In spring, the two meet to walk the wall and
jointly make repairs
 The speaker sees no reason for the wall to be
kept –there are no cows to be contained, just
apple and pine trees
 He tries to influence his neighbor‟s thinking
 The neighbor resorts to an old saying
“Good fences make good neighbors”

20. SHUBHAM SHEKAR INTRODUCTION
NANDA KISHORE POEM IN DETAIL
GOKUL SUMMARY OF THE POEM (absent)
MEGHNA DEY LITERARY DEVICES