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REVIEW- MENDING WALL, , ‘Mending wall’ is a thought provoking poem written, by the famous American poet Robert Frost. His poems begin in delight, and end in wisdom., , There is a stone wall between the estates of the, poet and his neighbour. The poet believes that there is something that, doesn’t love a wall, because every spring season the wall is found to be, broken. No one knows who makes gaps in the wall. When the hunters, chase out rabbits from hiding, they destroy the broken walls, completely. The poet meets his neighbour and fixes a day to repair the, wall. They work together standing on either sides of the wall. They pick, up the stones that have fallen to their sides and balance them on the, wall. The poet feels that mending of the wall is just like an outdoor, game. He tells his neighbour that there is no need of a wall because he, has apple orchard and his neighbour has pine estate. There is no, question of the crops getting mixed up. Moreover they do not have, cows which might wander into the neighbour’s property. But the, neighbour disagrees quoting an old saying” good fences make good, neighbours”. The poet feels that his neighbour thinks and behaves like, a savage. He lives in the darkness of ignorance and doesn’t want to go, beyond the advice of his forefathers., , The wall in the poem has symbolic meaning. It, suggests barriers of different types which discriminate people. It can be, physical or emotional. The poem is a sad reflection of the plight of, modern society where discriminations based on colour, caste, race,, religion, politics, gender etc are common. The ‘something that doesn’t, love a wall’ may be Nature itself which promotes brotherhood and

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tolerance rather than segregation and isolation. The poem presents, contrasting view points. The poet doesn’t like walls of any sort. He, wants friendship beyond borders. The neighbour prefers to have walls, to maintain good relations between neighbours. The dispute between, them is a symbol of the clash between tradition and modernity., , The poet uses simple language to present a, powerful message to be tolerant to others. The poet uses a lot of poetic, devices to improve the beauty of the poem. He introduces beautiful, metaphors like ‘ he is all pine and | am apple orchard’ , ‘just another, kind of outdoor game’, ‘some are loaves and some so nearly balls’. In, order to suggest the old fashioned view points of the neighbour, the, poet introduces the simile of an old stone savage. The poem ‘Mending, Wall’ is not just about repairing walls it is also about mending, relationships. The poem beautifully presents the poet’s enthusiasm to, mend his broken relationship with his neighbour.