“Mending Wall” is a poem by the American poet Robert Frost. It was published in 1914, as the first entry in Frost’s second book of poems, North of Boston. The poem is set in rural New England, where Frost lived at the time—and takes its impetus from the rhythms and rituals of life there. The poem describes how the speaker and a neighbor meet to rebuild a stone wall between their properties—a ritual repeated every spring. This ritual raises some important questions over the course of the poem, as the speaker considers the purpose of borders between people and the value of human work.
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The Full Text of “Mending Wall”
1Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
2That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
3And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
4And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
5The work of hunters is another thing:
6I have come after them and made repair
7Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
8But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
9To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
10No one has seen them made or heard them made,
11But at spring mending-time we find them there.
12I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
13And on a day we meet to walk the line
14And set the wall between us once again.
15We keep the wall between us as we go.
16To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
17And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
18We have to use a spell to make them balance:
19"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
20We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
21Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
22One on a side. It comes to little more:
23There where it is we do not need the wall:
24He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
25My apple trees will never get across
26And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
27He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
28Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
29If I could put a notion in his head:
30"Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it
31Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
32Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
33What I was walling in or walling out,
34And to whom I was like to give offence.
35Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
36That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
37But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
38He said it for himself. I see him there
39Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
40In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
41He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
42Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
43He will not go behind his father's saying,
44And he likes having thought of it so well
45He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
The Full Text of “Mending Wall”
1Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
2That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
3And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
4And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
5The work of hunters is another thing:
6I have come after them and made repair
7Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
8But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
9To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
10No one has seen them made or heard them made,
11But at spring mending-time we find them there.
12I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
13And on a day we meet to walk the line
14And set the wall between us once again.
15We keep the wall between us as we go.
16To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
17And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
18We have to use a spell to make them balance:
19"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
20We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
21Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
22One on a side. It comes to little more:
23There where it is we do not need the wall:
24He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
25My apple trees will never get across
26And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
27He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
28Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
29If I could put a notion in his head:
30"Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it
31Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
32Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
33What I was walling in or walling out,
34And to whom I was like to give offence.
35Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
36That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
37But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
38He said it for himself. I see him there
39Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
40In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
41He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
42Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
43He will not go behind his father's saying,
44And he likes having thought of it so well
45He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
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“Mending Wall” Summary
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“Mending Wall” Themes
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Borders
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The Value of Work
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Change and Modernity
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mending Wall”
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Lines 1-4
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. -
Lines 5-9
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. -
Lines 9-10
The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made, -
Lines 11-16
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. -
Lines 17-22
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: -
Lines 23-27
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." -
Lines 28-31
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. -
Lines 32-38
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.
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Lines 38-42
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. -
Lines 43-45
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."
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“Mending Wall” Symbols
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Frost
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Spring
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Fences
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Cows
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Darkness
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“Mending Wall” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Enjambment
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End-Stopped Line
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Caesura
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Refrain
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Allusion
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Metaphor
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Simile
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Polyptoton
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Epanalepsis
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Consonance
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“Mending Wall” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Frozen-ground-swell
- Abreast
- Mending-time
- Offence
- Elves
- Old-stone
- Savage
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mending Wall”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Mending Wall” Speaker
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“Mending Wall” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Mending Wall”
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More “Mending Wall” Resources
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External Resources
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Sadie Stein on "Mending Wall" — The critic Sadie Stein discusses "Mending Wall" for the Paris Review.
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Frost Poetics — A group of scholars and poets debate Frost's "Mending Wall" at the Kelly Writers' House at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Was Robert Frost a Modernist? — Poet and critic Robert Pinsky considers whether Frost was a modernist.
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Robert Frost Reads "Mending Wall" — The poet himself reads "Mending Wall" aloud.
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Essays on "Mending Wall" — A series of essays on "Mending Wall" from the University of Illinois.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Frost
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