Natural Separation example essay topic

DISCUSS THE EFFECTS OF THE WRITING IN MENDING WALL, SHOWING HOW FAR AND IN WHAT WAYS THIS POEM SEEMS CHARACTERSITIC OF FROSTS METHODS AND CONCERNS. CONSIDER: CHARACTER OF NARRATOR TONE IMAGERY SYMBOLS IM RELATION TO OTHER POEMS Before answering this question one must first classify what the Frosts main methods and concerns are. Throughout Frosts poem one sees a pattern developing. He seems a nature lover very much disturbed by the apparent ingratitude and disrespect that humans take for nature; this is particularly evident in poems such as Two Look at Two, and of course Mending Wall. Frost shows genuine disbelief and unease at the fact that humans have such an urge to separate themselves from one another. This indicates to me that he is a person of strong morals but also common sense for that fact that he can see where we as humans are going wrong.

The character of the narrator shows genuine disconcert for nature and he does not appreciate what nature is really there for. He think its purpose is to be built upon to show mans ability to construct and create new objects. However he does not realise that nature is not there for that, but it is a precious thing that we should be grateful for rather than destroy it. What is most worrying in the narrator is selfish attitude and the fact that he thinks what he is doing is right, I could say Elves to him. This line shows that the narrator is egocentric thinking that everything should revolve around him and that the feelings of others dont matter. This goes in parallel to Frosts concerns that man is very self-centred.

The tone in the poem consists of much tension between the narrators ideology and the neighbours. The neighbour sees barriers as a good thing, Good fences make good neighbours, saying how separation aids human life. Whereas the narrator shows dissatisfaction at such separation, My apple trees his pines, at this point the narrator is unhappy at the rivalry that is being created and wishes all types of nature are able to mix together rather than have to be on different sides. Overall in the tone there is much tension and conflict with Frost seemingly unhappy at the barriers being created whereas the neighbour (what I think to be representing man as a whole) in favour of there being demarcation among each other. There is much imagery in this poem that Frost uses to aid his thesis. That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, here Frost uses imagery to represent the efforts that nature is going to in order to break the wall down.

Nature is trying to get into every nook and cranny in order to oppose the presence of the wall. Frost creates imagery of separation, one on a side, here he uses words to create seemingly unnecessary competition and rivalry between humans further reinforcing his displeasure at our natural urge to compete and separate. A good use of imagery to epitomize natural separation, He is all pine and I am apple orchard, this shows that on one side you have one type of nature and on the other you have another. It shows how nature is not allowed to mix and has to be segregated; this is ironic as he uses natural imagery to represent a barrier yet nothing is more unnatural than nature not being permitted to mix. In terms of symbolism Frost uses the line Good Fences make good neighbours, to symbolise what I feel he thinks all is wrong in the world. He is trying to get across that this is completely the wrong ideology to have on life and that there should be no separation, there should be no barriers.

In order to get along with each other we need to be able to communicate, if there are barriers then surely this can not be accomplished therefore that line is quite an ironic statement. Towards the end of the poem uses a cave man like description to symbolise the prim evilness of man, like an old-stone savage. He uses this description to symbolise how mans urge to build things is still very ancient and primitive, but also an underlying message that we have a lot to learn about how to treat one another and how to get in some kind of harmony with nature. Rather than acting like parasites, where everywhere we go we take over use all resources destroy and then move on. In relation to other poems we can compare Mending Wall to Look at Two, where similarly Frost is trying to say how humans take things for granted, where they think they are doing the right thing when in fact all that they are doing is worsening the situation and obliterating any existing relationship that may exist between nature and themselves. In conclusion I feel that in this poem Frost is giving much protest to everything that is wrong about humans.

He is protesting by saying that barriers are extremely negative and in order to get along we much work together as a race united with nature, rather than separate ourselves in such futile ways. Frost does this through a continual use of vivid imagery and symbolism.