The Wall of Friendship

“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost is a poem that talks about the relationship of two farmer neighbors as they maintained a wall between their respective areas. The persona is narrating how the wall that they have maintained has been destroyed by time, not to mention the sun and the hunters. He is also calling the attention of the neighbor for their mending time which they do every spring time. The other farmer in the poem believes that the wall serves him and his neighbor good. Good fences make good neighbors” according to him suggests that the wall symbolizes nothing else but “something” that does only serve as a barrier but also as a common wall for them to celebrate friendship and companionship. The symbolism of the wall as mentioned in the earlier paragraph is that of barrier and common wall. These two comprise factors in every person’s relationships with each other, in the poem; it is the relationship and friendship of two neighbor farmers. In every relationship that people have, a wall is needed to as to make it harmonious.

As the other farmer has said, “Good fences make good neighbors. ” It is only through maintaining the wall, repairing it in case of ruin, and putting it in the right place that make relationships between people work out smoothly. In the assertion that the wall serves as a barrier in the maintenance of relationships between and among people, the persona has said that “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know/ What I was walling in or walling out,/ And to whom I was like to give offense. This line suggests that in maintaining friendship or any other relationship with people around you; you have to set boundaries and limitations. For instance, if you are neighbors, then you should recognize that the wall separates your respective houses, front yards, and backyards. In this case, each one of you needed to respect each other space as the narrator has said “He is all pine and I am apple orchard. / My apple trees will never get across/ And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. ”

Finally, in the last assertion that the wall serves as a “common wall” in the maintenance of friendship, the wall refers to the common and shared experiences that the neighbors have while mending the wall. These shared and common experiences make them cultivate their relationships even more. The same thing as in any other relationship, time with each other is really necessary. The neighbors’ shared experiences make them respect each other’s part of the wall. Moreover, it made them good neighbors. “and set the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. / and some are loaves and some so nearly balls/ We have to use a spell to make them balance:/ Stay where you are until our backs are turned! / We wear our fingers rough with handling them. / Oh, just another kind of out-door game. ” As a conclusion, the wall symbolizes the nice and good factors in the maintenance of every relationship every person has. The wall suggests that the important things in every relationship are barrier and commonalities as observed by the two neighbors in the poem.