Mending Wall Flashcards
by Robert Frost — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: Mending Wall
What activity do the two neighbors perform each spring?
They walk along the stone wall between their properties and repair the gaps by replacing fallen stones.
What causes the gaps in the wall over winter?
Frozen ground swells push up from underneath, toppling the upper boulders. Hunters also displace stones while chasing rabbits.
Who initiates the annual wall-mending ritual?
The narrator does -- he lets his neighbor know beyond the hill, and they set a day to walk the line together.
What argument does the narrator make against keeping the wall?
He points out there are no cows to contain -- his apple trees will never cross over and eat the neighbor's pine cones.
How does the neighbor respond each time the narrator questions the wall?
He simply repeats his father's saying: "Good fences make good neighbours."
What does the narrator wish the neighbor would do instead of repeating the proverb?
He wishes the neighbor would think critically and arrive at the conclusion himself that the wall is unnecessary.
How does the poem end?
The neighbor repeats "Good fences make good neighbours" a second time, showing nothing has changed despite the narrator's questioning.
How does the narrator characterize himself versus his neighbor through their land?
The narrator has an apple orchard (cultivated, open) while the neighbor is "all pine" (evergreen, unchanging) -- reflecting their contrasting temperaments.
What does the narrator compare his neighbor to as they work?
An "old-stone savage armed" -- carrying a stone firmly in each hand, moving like a primitive figure.
What does the narrator mean when he says the neighbor "moves in darkness"?
It refers to intellectual darkness -- the neighbor clings to inherited tradition without questioning it, not just the literal shade of his pine trees.
Why does the narrator say "Spring is the mischief in me"?
The playful, rebellious energy of spring inspires him to challenge his neighbor's unexamined belief in the wall's necessity.
Where does the neighbor's belief in walls come from?
From his father -- he "will not go behind his father's saying," accepting the proverb as inherited wisdom without questioning it.
How does the poem explore the tension between tradition and questioning?
The neighbor embodies unquestioning tradition by repeating his father's proverb, while the narrator represents skeptical inquiry, asking what purpose the wall actually serves.
What is paradoxical about the narrator's stance on the wall?
He questions the wall's purpose yet is the one who initiates the mending each spring -- suggesting he values the ritual of connection even as he protests the barrier.
How does nature function as a force in the poem?
Nature actively works to tear the wall down through frost heaves and erosion, aligned with the narrator's view that "something" doesn't love a wall.
What role does the mending ritual play in the neighbors' relationship?
It is their primary social bond -- the wall both separates them and gives them a reason to meet, walk together, and interact each year.
What is the effect of the poem being written in blank verse?
The unrhymed iambic pentameter creates a conversational, natural tone that mirrors ordinary speech and the casual rhythm of the neighbors' annual walk.
How does Frost use repetition structurally in the poem?
"Something there is that doesn't love a wall" opens and recurs mid-poem, while "Good fences make good neighbours" appears near the middle and closes the poem -- framing the central debate.
What is ironic about the narrator calling the mending "just another kind of out-door game"?
He minimizes it as play, yet the ritual carries deep significance -- it is the only interaction that maintains their neighborly relationship.
What literary device is at work in "He is all pine and I am apple orchard"?
Metonymy -- each man is identified with his land, collapsing the distinction between person and property to show how the landscape defines their identities.
What does the spell "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" reveal about the task?
It uses personification and humor to show the futility of the work -- the stones are so ill-fitted they seem ready to fall the moment the men walk away.
What does "frozen-ground-swell" refer to in the poem?
Frost heave -- the expansion of moisture in the soil when it freezes, which pushes the ground upward and dislodges the wall's stones.
What does "abreast" mean in "gaps even two can pass abreast"?
Side by side -- the gaps are wide enough for two people to walk through together, emphasizing how thoroughly nature dismantles the wall.
What does "offence" mean in "to whom I was like to give offence"?
Here it carries a double meaning: causing displeasure to someone, and also a play on "a fence" -- questioning who is harmed or helped by the barrier.
Why does Frost open with "Something there is" instead of "There is something"?
The inverted syntax creates mystery and emphasis, foregrounding the unnamed force that opposes walls before the reader even knows the subject.
What is the significance of the line "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out"?
It is the narrator's central philosophical challenge -- barriers should have a clear purpose, and builders should consider their consequences before erecting them.
Why does the narrator say he could say "Elves" but would rather the neighbor "said it for himself"?
He wants the neighbor to independently reason that the mysterious wall-destroying force reflects nature's resistance to arbitrary boundaries, rather than accepting a whimsical answer.