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On Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”
Abstract：In “Mending Wall”, Robert Frost expresses his opinion on the ideas of barriers between people, communication, friendship and the sense of security people gain from barriers. The style of language of the poem, the rhetorical devices used, and its theme show how a seemingly simple poem requires close reading to discover its artistic charm and its full meaning.
Key words：style of language; rhetorical devices; theme
Robert Frost, who won the Pulitzer Prize four times, is an important American poet in the 20th century. He is also considered a regional poet whose subject matters mainly focus on the landscape and people in New England. His poem “Mending Wall” is countryside in its setting. Robert Frost once said that a poem should “begin in delight and end in wisdom” (qtd. in Cheng 2001 170). Simple language, graceful style, traditional form, and profound ideas are the main characteristics of his poetry. “Mending Wall” is no exception. This paper attempts to analyze this poem from the perspectives of its language, the rhetorical devices used, and its theme, showing how a seemingly simple poem requires close reading to discover its artistic charm and its full meaning.
1 The Style of Language of the Poem
“Mending Wall” is a long one-stanza poem. It is written in blank verse and contains a narrative-like style. Frost had rejected the revolutionary poetic principles of his contemporaries, choosing instead “the old-fashioned way to be new”(qtd. in Wu 179). By using simple spoken language and conversational rhythms, Frost achieved an effortless grace in his style. He combined traditiona1 verse forms with “a clear American local speech rhythm, the speech of New England farmers with its idiosyncratic diction and syntax” (“Robert Lee Frost”). The Vocabulary of the poem makes readers be personally on the scene of New England countryside. They can see “hunters”, “the rabbit”, “the yelping dogs”, “pine”, “cones”, and “apple orchard”. The diction Frost chooses is what the country folk use in their daily life, which vividly portrays the different characters of the two neighbors. The conversation between the two neighbors is a good example. The narrator straightforwardly states his opinion that “There where it is we do not need the wall”, and next he gives a sound explanation to his viewpoint. The language he uses here is simple, easy to understand, indicating that he is an easy-going and optimistic man who longs for establishing friendship with his neighbor. However, the neighbour is not persuaded by the narrator. His answer is simply “Good fences make good neighbors”. “Good fences make good neighbors” is an old adage. Generally, poets do not use this kind of cliché in their writing, but this cliché perfectly represents the opinion and character of the neighbor. It is known to all that old adages are fruit of people’s wisdom through generations, but they are also representative of the vitality as well as the stubbornness of tradition.