Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbour know
beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep 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,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
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.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why
do they make good neighbours? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
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 offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down." I could say
"Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it
seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Question:
All people have innate
defense mechanisms. What are some
defense mechanisms you find yourself using at times when you feel threatened or
insecure?
What is your interpretation
of the poem?
Cite two passages that you
find appealing. What is your gut
reaction to these passages.
Can you identify with the
speaker of this poem?
1.
What is the wall
like in the spring?
2.
Why does the
speaker contact his neighbor? What
do they do together?
3.
What does the
speaker tell his neighbor as they repair the wall? What quote does the speakerŐs neighbor
repeat?
4.
What would the
speaker like to know before he builds a wall?
5.
What forces act
to tear down the wall?
6.
How does the
neighbor look to the speaker? What
reveals that the speaker doesnŐt totally trust his neighbor?
7.
Why might the
neighbor want to have a wall where one is not absolutely necessary? What does the neighborŐs desire for a
wall tell you about him?
8.
Who is being
Ňwalled outÓ in this poem? By whom?
9.
The speaker says,
ŇSomething is that doesnŐt love a wall.Ó
What doesnŐt?
10.
Which person in
this poem is more thoughtful and reflective, the speaker or the neighbor? Explain.
11.
A symbol is a thing
that stands for or represents both itself and something else. For example, a rose is a traditional
symbol of love or beauty. What does
the wall in this poem symbolize?
Why does the speaker question the value of walls?