Robert Frost, in his poem Mending Wall shows conflicting feelings of the speaker toward the wall. In the start of the poem it seems that the speaker is angry an upset that the wall has been broken. Yet, in the middle of the poem the attitude of the speaker changes entirely and evolves into a feeling of distress that there is a wall. At the end of the poem the speaker almost feels that the wall shouldn’t be repaired and shouldn’t even exist. I notice that throughout the poem the speaker develops different feelings about the wall. What causes the change in the speakers tone and approach to the wall as the poem progresses? It seems that the speakers attitude towards the wall changes and follows a maturation and growth cycle in the speaker’s character.
The speaker begins the poem with a condescending tone towards the “something” that is breaking the wall. This would seem to indicate a desire for the wall. The speaker wants the wall intact and is upset that the wall continues to be destroyed as we see in the quote, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall...and makes gaps even two can pass abreast.” It may just seem poetic , descriptive and just plain quaint to write the size of the gap as enough for two yet from this quote the speaker emphasizes the size of the gap that bothers him as being the gap that is the size for two people to pass through. When reading the text, “the work of hunters is another thing, Where they have left not one stone on a stone.” It stands out to me that specifically a gap large enough for two to pass is the problem and not just that the wall was broken. The attitude that the speaker seems to have at the start is an anger toward a broken wall and a connection to his neighbor.
The speaker’s first feelings as seen in the start of the poem are also mirrored by the tenses used in the poem. Frost allows the reader to gain insight into the speakers intention through the tenses used. The poem begins using the voice of an individual...