Robert Frost: Who is the Speaker in “The Mending Wall”?

When Robert Frost recited his poem “The Mending Wall” at the 1962 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, Frost’s words struck a chord with a nation mending its divisions after the McCarthy Red Scare and the chilling Cuban Missile Crisis of the previous year. Almost 50 years later, that same poem continues to speak to readers and audiences in ways that are both universal and particular.

This is largely due to Frost’s use of persona in “The Mending Wall.” By invoking a third-person narrator who speaks as if he is an old farmer (rather than Frost himself), the poet creates an objective distance from which he can explore themes of home, community, and identity. This article explores these ideas along with the setting, diction, imagery, and meanings of each stanza in more detail.

The Basics: Who is the speaker and who is the farmer?

First, let’s outline the basic relationships between the speaker, his partner, and the farmer. The speaker visits a farmer at his stone wall and talks with him about what the wall means to them both. The farmer has lived on the land for many years, but the speaker has just arrived. The poem is about the speaker’s desire to understand the farmer’s attachment to the wall, which the farmer (at first) seems reluctant to explain.

The speaker comes to the wall once a year to talk with the farmer and help repair it, and the two men discuss their parallel cultural transitions from living in “straw-built shanties” to “house-keeping” in “half-faced stone” houses. The “straw-built shanties” would have been log cabins built with unhewn logs (i.e., roughly hewn logs). “Half-faced stone” houses would have been built with the same stone (i.e., stone walls) that the wall between the two men was made from.

The farmer has lived in the place for many years, but the speaker has just arrived. The poem is about the speaker’s desire to understand the farmer’s attachment to the wall, which the farmer (at first) seems reluctant to explain.

Setting: Where does this take place?

The general setting of this poem is a New England farm, but the precise time and place are ambiguous. The speaker says that he and the farmer are both “mending” the wall, but the two men are also “ending” it. The poem is about the speaker’s desire to understand the farmer’s attachment to the wall, which the farmer (at first) seems reluctant to explain.

The speaker comes to the wall once a year to talk with the farmer and help repair it, and the two men discuss their parallel cultural transitions from living in “straw-built shanties” to “house-keeping” in “half-faced stone” houses. The “straw-built shanties” would have been log cabins built with unhewn logs (i.e., roughly hewn logs). “Half-faced stone” houses would have been built with the same stone (i.e., stone walls) that the wall between the two men was made from.

The farmer has lived in the place for many years, but the speaker has just arrived. The poem is about the speaker’s desire to understand the farmer’s attachment to the wall, which the farmer (at first) seems reluctant to explain.

Diction and Language: What words make Frost use?

The language of this poem is often stark and unadorned. The “mending” and “ending” of the wall are both represented through the image of “two walls,” which are two parallel walls built at different times by different people.

The “half-faced” stone of the wall is “half-built” and “half-faced” because the two builders have hewn and built it to half its intended height. The “straw-built shanties” would have been log cabins built with unhewn logs (i.e., roughly hewn logs). “Half-faced stone” houses would have been built with the same stone (i.e., stone walls) that the wall between the two men was made from.

The farmer has lived in the place for many years, but the speaker has just arrived. The poem is about the speaker’s desire to understand the farmer’s attachment to the wall, which the farmer (at first) seems reluctant to explain.

Imagery: What does the wall represent and why?

The wall is built out of “half-faced” stone, which is a combination of two different materials: the “half-faced” stone of the wall is “half-built” and “half-faced.” These two builders have hewn and built it to half its intended height.

The “straw-built shanties” would have been log cabins built with unhewn logs (i.e., roughly hewn logs). “Half-faced stone” houses would have been built with the same stone (i.e., stone walls) that the wall between the two men was made from. The farmer has lived in the place for many years, but the speaker has just arrived. The poem is about the speaker’s desire to understand the farmer’s attachment to the wall, which the farmer (at first) seems reluctant to explain.

Themes: Home, Community, and Identity.

A central theme of this poem is how we define and understand “home” and “community” through the symbols and rituals that we build and pass on from generation to generation. The speaker has come to the farmer’s wall once a year, year after year, and helped him repair it. In so doing, he has become a kind of silent partner in the wall’s symbolic significance.

The speaker has just moved to the area and does not have a large extended family or a long history of roots in the place. As a result, he needs to work harder to understand the symbolism of the wall and the farmer’s attachment to it.

The speaker has come to the wall once a year to talk with the farmer and help repair it, and the two men discuss their parallel cultural transitions from living in “straw-built shanties” to “house-keeping” in “half-faced stone” houses.

The “straw-built shanties” would have been log cabins built with unhewn logs (i.e., roughly hewn logs). “Half-faced stone” houses would have been built with the same stone (i.e., stone walls) that the wall between the two men was made from. The farmer has lived in the place for many years, but the speaker has just arrived. The poem is about the speaker’s desire to understand the farmer’s attachment to the wall, which the farmer (at first) seems reluctant to explain.

Summing up

Frost’s poem begins with the speaker explaining that each year in spring he makes a yearly trip to visit a farmer with whom he has a “mending wall”. While this may seem strange, the speaker explains that the farmers have a tradition of repairing the walls of their stone fences each spring, and he has been doing it with his “good-natured neighbor” for many years. As the poem progresses, it becomes clear that this wall is symbolic of more than just stone: it is a symbol of tradition, culture, and the passing of generations. Frost’s poem concludes with the speaker explaining that while the wall may seem weathered and worn, it is stronger than ever before.