Critical analysis of “Mending wall” and “Home burial”

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Name: Trivedi Hezal K.
Roll No: 39
PG Reg. No. PG15101040
M.A. – English Regular, Semester-3
Year: 2016
Paper No. 10: The American Literature
Unit-1: Robert Frost`s Poems
Assignments Topic- Critical analysis of “Mending wall” and “Home burial”
Submitted to: S.B. Gardi Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
(Gujarat – India)

About author:

Robert Lee Frost was a great American poet. He has created many creation. He was the one of the most well – known poet during his lifetime. He was highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life. Robert Frost also known as the Nature Poet, Modern Poet, Lyric Poet and Regional Poet. Robert Frost wrote most of his poetry in England during the Victorian Era. This was a time when new genres and meters of poetry were being introduced. Which, Frost used in his poems. He liked to use language as it is actually spoken. His writing style is often influenced by nature. He also used his poetry to analyze complex social problems and put them into common terms. He is poet of deep thoughts. Behind his descriptions we can find spiritual meaning in his poetry. Frost’s work and tendencies symbolized the literature of Modernist time period. He also won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times.

“The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.” -Robert Frost

His great works:
1) "Mending Wall"
2) "Home Burial"
3) “Stopping by woods on a snowy”
4) “Fire and ice”
5) “The gift outright”
6) "Design"
7) “The road not taken”

  Critical analysis of “Mending wall” and “Home burial”

1) “Mending Wall”



Background to “Mending Wall”:

The poem “Mending Wall” set in the countryside in spring. Forty five line poem, one verse paragraph, no stanza. The use of ‘I’ makes it more like a monologue, a one – person dramatic speech. Frost describes the border between two farms / people. The poem explores stubbornness in a conservative farmer who blindly follows tradition. Examines the nature and purpose of WALLS by contrasting man and nature : one builds walls, the other destroys them. On a deeper level, “Mending Wall” examines how humans deal with each other and live isolated lives. By this poem Frost try to shows great respect towards nature, and the natural world.

Central refrain of the poem:

“Good fences make good neighbours”

Ironically, the line “Good fences make good neighbours” did not come from frost but it came from his neighbour, for it was an adage.

Speaker: dislikes or disapproves of walls, understand that they divide and separate people.

Neighbour: likes and approves of walls, sees them as creating boundaries and fostering good neighbourliness.

Critical analysis of ” Mending wall”:

This poem is the first work in Frost's second book of poetry, “North of Boston,” which was published upon his return from England in 1915. "Mending Wall" in the structure of North of Boston suggests, in its sharp contrasts to the dark tones of some of the major poems in the volume, the psychological necessity of sustaining imaginative 'supreme fictions'. The ordinariness of the rural activity of "mending wall” is presented in specific terms, yet this mending has a much larger connotation. The poem works on two levels of realism and metaphor, with a balance as poised as the act of mending the wall itself. In many of Frost's lines which are so cherished that they have become familiar quotations; such as "Good fences make good neighbours.”

Frost's style in "Mending Wall” is plain, direct, and conversational. It is simple on the surface but there's an obscurity and a depth that the reader can't quite get inside of. Frost's use iambic pentameter in "Mending Wall”. He makes the poem sound very much like spoken English. By doing this the words flow very smoothly. In terms of form, “Mending Wall” is not structured with stanzas; it is a simple forty-five lines of first-person narrative. Frost does maintain iambic stresses, but he is flexible with the form in order to maintain the conversational feel of the poem. He also shies away from any obvious rhyme patterns and instead relies upon the occasional internal rhyme and the use of assonance in certain ending terms (such as “wall,” “hill,” “balls,” “well”).

This poem is an allegory, which means that it possesses a hidden meaning, and therefore making the whole poem a very long metaphor. It uses literary devices such as metaphors, and personification. As mentioned before, this poem is an allegory, therefore, the whole poem all represents a general metaphors. Personifications shows up many times in the poem, examples are ;

Nature : Nature can not feel, therefore the word “love” used in the first line is a personification.

Apple tree : cannot move to the other side of the wall and eat the cone.

In the poem itself, Frost creates two distinct characters that have different ideas about what exactly makes a person a good neighbour. The narrator deplores his neighbour’s preoccupation with repairing the wall; he views it as old-fashioned and even archaic. After all, he quips, his apples are not going to invade the property of his neighbour’s pinecones. As the narrator points out, the very act of mending the wall seems to be in opposition to nature. Every year, stones are dislodged and gaps suddenly appear, all without explanation. Every year, the two neighbors fill the gaps and replace the fallen boulders, only to have parts of the wall fall over again in the coming months. It seems as if nature is attempting to destroy the barriers that man has created on the land, even as man continues to repair the barriers, simply out of habit and tradition.

Ironically, while the narrator seems to begrudge the annual repairing of the wall, Frost subtly points out that the narrator is actually more active than the neighbour. It is the narrator who selects the day for mending and informs his neighbour across the property. Despite his sceptical attitude, it seems that the narrator is even more tied to the tradition of wall-mending than his neighbour. Perhaps his sceptical questions and quips can then be read as an attempt to justify his own behaviour to himself. While he chooses to present himself as a modern man, far beyond old-fashioned traditions, the narrator is really no different from his neighbour: he too clings to the concept of property and division, of ownership and individuality.

Ultimately, the presence of the wall between the properties does ensure a quality relationship between the two neighbors. By maintaining the division between the properties, the narrator and his neighbour are able to maintain their individuality and personal identity as farmers: one of apple trees, and one of pine trees. The act of meeting to repair the wall allows the two men to develop their relationship and the overall community far more than if each maintained their isolation on separate properties.

Frost divides himself from the neighbour, ironically demonstrating the wall's power before even being erected. Frost finishes the poem by reiterating the neighbour's phrase, showing that nothing has changed during his wondering thoughts. From the fact that the neighbour states that "good fences make good neighbours" we can begin to build an image of the neighbour in our head. We can see that from the simple rural event of rebuilding a wall, Frost has drawn several conclusions about the neighbour, and the wall itself.

2) “Home burial”



What is this poem about?

Home Burial is great narrative poem of Robert Frost. In this poem he has described an anxious conversation between a rural husband and wife. It is a dramatic dialogue between a husband and with his wife. We can also found misapprehension between them. It is a poem about the love of a mother to her child. She has lost her all hopes. So, this poem portrays the failure of communication between the married couple, and failure to appreciate the way in which each is grieving.

Speaker: Amy; husband; narrator
Conflict: Wife believes that husband doesn’t understand
Key line: “You can’t because you don’t know how to speak.” (75)

Form:

Dramatic or pastoral lyric poem in the term of form, using free – from dialogue rather than strict rhythmic schemes. Frost generally uses five stressed syllables in each line and stanza in terms of lines of speech.

Critical analysis of “Home Burial”:

In this poem we have found the behaviour of a man and a woman. The author has wanted to show us that the women are emotional. Shakespeare says, ‘Frailty thy name is woman.’ The author has to announce that, a woman is not a woman but a mother. So the wife of the husband is very sad for the death of her child. Actually it is not the fault of the wife to misunderstand her husband; it is the nature of a lady. On the other hand, a man has two powers; one is emotion and another is action. At first the husband tries to control his wife with his emotion but when he fails he applies force or action.

One such is the ‘over – wrought’ mother in the home burial cracking up under a burden grief over the death of her first born. It is the shadow of her dead child which brings her in conflict with her husband and wife. The couple is caught in a moment of spiritual crisis, and the expression of their emotion has all the intensity of the lyric.

The poem describes two tragedies: First, the death of a marriage. As such, the title “Home Burial”, can be read as double entendre. Although the death of the child is the catalyst of the couple’s problem, the larger conflict that destroys the marriage is the couple’s inability to communicative with one another. Both characters feel grief at the loss of the child, but neither is able to understand the way that their partner chooses to express their sorrow.

The setting of the poem –a staircase with a door at the bottom and a window at the top – automatically sets up the relationship between the characters. The wife stands at the top of the stairs, directly in front of the window overlooking the graveyard, while the husband stands at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her. While the couple shares the tragedy of their child’s death, they are in conflicting positions in terms of dealing with their grief.

With her position closest to the window, the wife is clearly still struggling with her grief over the loss of her baby. Incapable of moving on at this point in her identity in terms of the loss and would rather grieve for the rest of her life than grieve as sort of par tense. The husband has dealt with his sorrow more successfully, as evidenced by his position at the bottom of the staircase, close to the door and the outside world. As a farmer, the husband is more accepting of the natural cycle of life and death in general, but also chooses to grieve in a more physical manner : by digging the grave for his child. Ironically, the husband’s expression of his grief is completely misunderstood by the wife; she views his behaviour as a sign of his callous apathy. Ultimately, each character is isolated from the other at opposite ends of the staircase. In order for the marriage to succeed, each character must travel an equal distance up or down the staircase in order to meet the other. The husband attempts to empathize with his wife, moving up the staircase towards her and essentially moving backward in his position at the foot.

When the wife moves down the staircase, she assumes the upper hand in the power struggle between the two by ensuring that her husband cannot move between her and the door and stop her from leaving. Without the physical capacity to keep her from leaving, the husband must attempt to convince her to stay through communication – something that, as the poem demonstrates, has been largely unsuccessful throughout their marriage.

Conclusion:

At this point, I am dealing with the two critical analysis of Robert Frost poems “Mending Wall”, and “Home Burial”. The way in which we interpret that the poem Mending Wall is the basis for the decision of what the conclusion actually is - whether it be the simple and innocent view that the wall is simply not necessary, and acts as a communication barrier, or whether it be that the wall is a stimulus for Frost to reflect on the neighbours actions and scrutinize him. And In the poem Home Burial we find the problem of the lake of conversation between the husband and wife, which increase the difference and gape between them.

Works Cited:

1. http://www.gradesaver.com/the-poetry-of-robert-frost/study-guide/summary-home-burial-1914
2.http://www.gradesaver.com/the-poetry-of-robert-frost/q-and-a/is-their-communication-gap-between-husband-and-wife-in-home-burrial-92331
3. http://anerithakar011213.blogspot.in/2013/10/critical-analysis-of-stopping-by-woods.html

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