The Big Wall

“Mending Walls” by Richards Frost, is a poem that shows humanity’s need to separate from each other and how its efforts are worthless because the barrier will fall again. The author is trying to create a poem in which meaning reflects his point of view towards humanity’s need to protect what it is his. He uses symbols such as the wall between two neighbors and the constant repairs they have to do to them to guide this reader towards this meaning.

First of all, the author uses imagery to illustrate the reader the environment created by this wall. It starts by telling the story of the hunters that, not caring about other’s property or rights, they cross and “please the Yelping dogs” (Frost). This takes the character to think about the dangers of being someone like the hunter yet it continuous to find some other reasons to building this wall. This shows Frost’s clear attempt to show how people use something as hunting, to convince their neighbors that each one has to protect it’s own by separating it from others.

Another element used by the author are symbols such as the wall. This wall represents the barrier that divides the neighbors from others. It is indeed here where the readers must focus on the main meaning of the poem to understand the true message that this poem has. Just like two neighbors build a wall, humanity builds barriers between them. Nevertheless, time and history destroy these barriers, but humanity just sits down and builds them once again. This shows Frost’s attempt to guide the reader towards a world that is divided by human kind.

Furthermore, the author uses literary devices such as Aphorism as an example of the reasons that humanity uses to build these barriers. The most common one inside this poem is “ good fences make good neighbors” (Frost). This line that is repeated twice inside this poem guides the reader towards an environment in which people think that wittiness will give them a reason to build this barriers between them.

In conclusion, the reader may see how Richard Frost uses literary devices such as aphorism and elements such as symbols to convince the reader that humanity is building frontiers between them to protect themselves from each other, and how they use lame excuses and fake smiles to give reasons to this self-destructive way of living.