One way you can read Mending Wall by Robert Frost is that it is about a man who
rebuilds the wall seperating his property from his neighbour’s. This man, this
persona created by Gray doesn’t seem to believe there is a use for the wall as
“he [the neighbour] is all pine and I [the persona] am apple orchard” but
his neighbour believes that “good fences make good neighbours”. The persona
tries to change his neighbour’s opinion by trying to “put a notion in his
head” but his neighbour seems to just ignore him. So the persona gets annoyed
and thinks of him as an “old-stone savage”. This is a very simple situation
which we can all relate to. But, if we read deeper into the poem we may find the
meanings that Robert Frost wanted us to see. Firstly, as we know that this
persona is against the building of walls where not necessary we find that it is
this persona that initiates the re-building of the wall “I let my neighbour
know beyond the hill”. This gives the reader something to think about – it
puts questions in the reader’s mind as to why he would initiate this if he
doesn’t think it’s necessary. One reason may be that this persona enjoys the
company of his neighbour – but he gets frustrated with him. Maybe this persona
is a lonely person and any company is good company – they “meet to walk the
line”. Maybe through mending the wall between them they are mending their
friendship. These are all viable options and as we read further into the poem we
may understand to a greater extent why he does this. When the two start building
the wall the reader may notice that words such as “we” and “our” are
used giving the feeling of cooperation and companionship. The persona once calls
this task an “outdoor game” which connotes feelings of enjoyment,
cooperation, competition. The fact that they walk “the line” “one on a
side” gives a visual image in the readers mind and may remind them of a tennis
game. I must emphasize that what is being told in the poem is from the
persona’s point of view – not directly Frost’s – so the reader must
beware and realise that it is possible that the persona is wrong in some of his
comments. “There where it is we do not need the wall” – this comment being
straight to the point makes the reader feel as if the persona is denying the
fact that it is the wall that brings the two men together to cooperate with one
another and to converse with one another (to a certain extent). The line
directly after this comment segregates the two from one another by contrasting
the type of people they are with each other. “he is all pine and I am all
apple orchard” – the fact that this statement comes directly after the
comment on the uselessness of the wall suggests that it is these kind of
attitudes that puts a barrier between people thus segregating them from one
another. Personification of the persona’s apple trees is used to explain to
the reader just how much this persona undermines his neighbour. “my apple
trees will never get across, and eat the cones under his pines”. Even though
this comment is light-hearted and almost humorous it gives the reader the
impression that the persona thinks of himself as a more intelligent person than
his neighbour thus feeling that he needs to explain why the wall is unnecessary.