|
|
Good Fences Make Good Neighbors This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's deletion policy.
Please see this article's entry on the Votes for Deletion page for voting and discussion on the matter. Please do not remove or deface this notice or blank, merge, or move this article while the discussion is in progress. However, you are welcome to edit this article and improve it. For more information, read the Guide to Votes for Deletion. From Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall". This poem begins, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall". The narrator discusses the natural forces - from frost (Frost?) heaves to "elves" - that conspire to tear down the walls that people build between them. The narrator and his neighbor get together once a year to rebuild the wall between their property. While the neighbor repeats, "Good fences make good neighbors", the narrator wonders why, because the apple trees on one side won't encroach on the pine trees on the other.
This quote is often interpreted literally (see http://www.bartleby.com/59/3/goodfencesma.html, http://www.thepfizerjournal.com/default.asp?a=article&j=tpj30&t='Good%20Fences%20Make%20Good%20Neighbors', http://www.homestore.com/HomeGarden/HomeImprovement/Features/Winter/Fence.asp?poe=homestore et all), but more careful reading and knowledge of Robert Frost's life may imply that the narrator specifically doesn't approve of the phrase, or his neighbor, who "moves in darkness" "like an old-stone savage". Discussions at http://info.nwmissouri.edu/~english/durrill.html, http://lorenwebster.net/In_a_Dark_Time/archives/000722.html, http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/wall.htm, and others.
In the end, the poem shows both sides: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall", and "Good fences make good neighbors" - and perhaps lets the reader choose which statement is more true.
|
 |