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In “Mending Wall”, Robert Frost has beautifully presented two seemingly different ideas. First he says that there is something that does not like walls. It makes the frozen ground under the wall expand. Because of this expansion, the wall gets cracks, making the upper stones of the wall fall down to the sides, thus making gaps. Sometimes the gaps are big enough to let even two people pass, walking side by side. This means there should be no walls between people. But people divide themselves by buildings walls. These walls come in the form of gender, religion, isms, races, position and wealth. These walls are artificially made by people and they should be demolished.

Frost further says that “Good fences make good neighbours”. We may not like walls but they are necessary for keeping peace between neighbours. Imagine our neighbour’s goats coming and eating the beautiful plants in our garden. We will defnitely not like it. Similarly if our dog catches the chicken of the neighbour will he like it? So walls are needed. But such walls are not always necessary as in the case of Frost and his neighbour. Frost cultivates apple. His neighbour cultivates pine. There is no possibility of his apple trees getting across and eating his neighbour’s pine cones. Nor do the neighbour’s pines get across to eat the apples of Frost. In such cases, Frost feels, walls are quite unnecessary.

(a) The keeping of stones one upon the other.

(b) He sees no purpose in maintaining that wall and hence considers it a game. 

The speaker lets his neighbour know that they should together repair the wall.

Good fences make good neighbours means it is good to have some limits between neighbours so that their relations will remain healthy at all times. If there is unlimited freedom between neighbours, trouble will soon start. Suppose you grow goats in your house. Your neighbour has a vegetable garden. If there is no fence your goats will go and eat up the vegetables of your neighbour. Will he like it?

Suppose your neighbour’s children come and open your fridge and eat up all the good food you have kept there. Will you like it? So there must be some boundaries betweenneighbours and only then there will be good relations.

The neighbour justifies the need forwalls offences by saying that good fences make good neighbours.

1. Speaker

2. neighbour

3. neighbour

4. The speaker 

5. The speaker 

6. the neighbour 

7. the neighbour 

8. The speaker 

9. The speaker 

10. the neighbour 

11. the neighbour 

12. The speaker.

(a) “It” refers to whatever is bringing down the wall every time they repair it.

(b) The speaker doesn’t want to say who is destroying the wall every time they rebuild it. He wants the neighbour to understand that walls are not being liked and hence they are being destroyed every time.

(b) mental darkness, ignorance.

ln “Mending Walls”, Robert Frost says that there is something that does not like walls. It makes the frozen ground under the wall expand. Because of this expansion, the wall gets cracks, making the upper stones of the wall fall down to the sides, thus making gaps. Sometimes the gaps are big enough to let even two people pass, walking side by side. 

This means there should be no walls between people. But here in India people divide themselves by buildings walls. These walls come in the form of gender, religion, various ‘isms’, castes, position and wealth. These walls are artificially made by us and they should be cracked or even destroyed. As the citizens of the same nation and as children of the same God, we must not build walls and separate people into different compartments. We should be one happy family.

The poet says that there is something that does not love the wall because nobody sees or hears anybody breaking the wall. But every spring season, the poet finds the wall is broken. So it is obvious that there is something that does not love a wall and wants to see it broken. It is this ‘something’ that makes the ground under the wall swell causing the stones of the wall to fall down on to either side.

At spring, the mending of the wall takes place.

The speaker and his neighbour.

In order to force the rabbit out of its hiding place, the hunters disturb the stones.

(a) The boulders that make up the wall.

(b) The speaker and his neighbour.

(c) humour.

Wind, snow and rain disturb the stones and make them fall.

The  hunters.