Bringing Down the Mending Wall

A detailed Summary of Bringing Down the Mending Wall

Traditions have always had a substantial effect on the lives of human beings, and always will. Robert Frost uses many unique poetic devices in his poem "Mending Wall," as well as many shifts in the speaker's tone to develop his thoughts on traditions. The three predominant tones used are those of questioning, irony and humor.

The speaker questions many things in relation to the wall that is being rebuilt. For example, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall" (ll. 1, 35), is used to question what despises the wall's presence. The speaker goes on to discuss the earth's swells that make gaps in the wall (l. 2), as well as the hunters, (l. 5) "not leaving a stone on a stone," (l. 7) merely to please the yelping dogs with a rabbit. In line thirty, the speaker questions, "Why do they make good neighbors" be

These three key uses of tone are all brought together to represent Frost's view of traditions. The poem brilliantly depicts two neighbors, one who questions and finds flaws with the tradition of mending, and another who believes strongly in the tradition and is appreciative of the wall's presence without really looking at the pointless effect. The contrasting neighbor's thoughts can be related to society during Frost's time of writing as well as during the modern society of today in that many people would believe in the speaker's perception of traditions while others would support traditions.

Frost develops irony through his shifts in tone within the "Mending Wall." The irony is most dramatic in lines fourteen and fifteen, "And set the wall between us once again / We keep the wall between us as we go." The s

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mending Wall, Robert Frost, , believes wall, wall's presence, mending wall, speaker questions, speaker's tone,

Approximate Word count = 551
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Bringing Down the Mending Wall

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