Mending Wall
, by Robert Frost, was written around 1914 in his subsection of poems entitled "North of Boston." This subsection means that the poems were written somewhere north of Boston, Massachusetts. This particular poem employs a common theme within the works of Frost that focuses on the power of nature over men and the walls that they literally and figuratively build between each other.
Dividing Walls
The most prevalent theme of Mending Wall appears in the 11th line when the speaker suggests that "at spring mending time we find them there." This reference to gaps and seasonal commitments suggests the divisions between people that tend to be resolved or exacerbated when circumstances change (the rebirth of spring).
Speaker's Reluctance
However, when the speaker remarks "Oh, just another kind of out-door game" he alludes to how senseless it is to continue trying to repair the wall. In this sense, the speaker relates the gaps to the hope that people can get along and the mending to the reluctance to do so.
Nature
The speaker also claims that nature does not love the wall and will send "frozen ground swell under it." This means that the wrath of nature against barriers is not match for the real or figurative barriers that people often construct between them.
Construction
The poem is constructed in a single stanza as well as employing blank register and conversing voice. Much like in Frost's other works considered to be "idealistic," this type of poetic writing is meant to give the feeling of comfort and peace (which alludes to the ultimate desire of the figurative wall--to break).
Similar Poems
Frost uses similar thematic and structural material in other poems that he wrote during the same period. To gain a better insight into this poem, the reader would likely find similar thematic material in "Birches" and constructive material in "After Apple Picking."
