Time to Mend Analysis of Robert Frosts Mending Wall with full paraphrase
A Time to Mend Robert Frost makes an interesting commentary on modern society and human society in his poem “Mending Wall.” His poem evolves from the specific instance of one man, and his experience with the wall between his neighbor’s property and his own, to a more broad view of the role of walls in our society, and extends even further to a metaphorical view of the notion of walls themselves. The poem begins with the existential, somewhat philosophical statement that “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” The speaker immediately departs from that statement to describe the particular circumstances involved with his wall, but the opening statement indicates to the reader that this poem will have greater significance than mere home improvement in the form of wall repair. ... “Someone” sends ground-swells, spills boulders, and makes large gaps in the wall; unknown hunters turn over stones in search of rabbits for their dogs; and “No one” has seen or heard gaps in the wall made. ... It also sets up a dichotomy between the surreal and the practical: unknown forces cause the destruction of the wall time after time, but the speaker and his neighbor, being responsible landowners must go out and repair it. ... The action in the poem is entirely based on the speaker and his neighbor, and their task of mending the wall. ... However, the mood changes once more with the line “There where it is we do not need the wall.” In the course of completing his chore, the speaker begins to ponder what the wall signifies. ... The first person pronouns become less abundant as subjects; rather, the speaker introduces somewhat strange new subjects, from “trees” to “Spring” to “cows” as he asks hypothetical questions and tries to determine why he even has a wall in the first place.