Thursday, February 18, 2010
"Mending Wall"
I have known this poem for some time having read it in high school as well as last year. Reading it throughout the years makes my perception a little different. You have two neighbors in the spring that walk together to mend a wall that separates their property. The narrator likes the wall because it keeps him blocked from his neighbor. "He is all pine and I am all apple orchard" shows that the two are very different by personality and even what is on their lands. The narrator's neighbor has a different perspective though. He says, "Good fences make good neighbors." He says this to state that some distance is healthy. The narrator is taken off by this because he believes the wall to be something different. "He moves in darkness" shows that the narrator says that he doesn't know his neighbor at all. The narrator repeats "Good fences make good neighbors" again to reinstate his take on the wall in spite of the narrator's view. It seems there is tension between the neighbors and the wall keeps them apart and in some way sane.
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I agree with Mr Flugh, in that the wall in some ways keeps the neighbors sane. The wall to me is a symbolic barrier of not only land, but also life. In life there are barriers that seperate pepeple everday. Race, religion, and culture seperates people like the wall seperated the two neighbors. In many ways the "fences" do make good neighbors, but "fences" also cause friction and should sometimes be torn down. When the fences come down there is more room for bothe neighbors and their mental fruits to grow
ReplyDeleteI agree with this post and believe that it is one very well written by reflecting the points that need be made. Neighbors are good to have, its healthy and keeps people sane for the most part by giving them someone to talk to and/or interact with. The wall is good in order for them to stay separate and have a bit of privacy. This is also a good way to keep those "nosy" neighbors out of ones business. Though THe narrator does believe he does not know his neighbor at all, the fence is not what is keeping him from that relationship but more or less keeping them at a healthy distance.
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