Draw Connections: “Mending Wall” and “The Wood-Pile”

Draw Connections: “Mending Wall” and “The Wood-Pile”

Robert Frost’s poems are often deeply involved with the New England landscape where he lived most of his adult life. One of his abiding concerns is the relationship between nature and human beings, which he tends to see as neither fully antagonistic nor easily cooperative. Read the annotated texts of “Mending Wall” and “The Wood-Pile,” and then answer the following questions comparing the two poems.

  1. Compare the neighbor and the bird as companions on these outdoor walks. How does Frost use them to work out his ideas about the setting and the speaker’s place in it?

    Question

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    Chapter 5: Compare the neighbor and the bird as companions on these outdoor walks. How does Frost use them to work out his ideas about the setting and the speaker’s place in it?
  2. In both poems, Frost is interested in how people try to alter nature for their purposes. And in both poems, human efforts seem only partially effective. Why? Do these poems offer different answers to the question of what happens when people intervene to change the landscape?

    Question

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    Chapter 5: In both poems, Frost is interested in how people try to alter nature for their purposes. And in both poems, human efforts seem only partially effective. Why? Do these poems offer different answers to the question of what happens when people intervene to change the landscape?
  3. “Mending Wall” is a spring poem, while “The Wood-Pile” seems to take place deep in winter. Discuss how the different seasons affect the view Frost takes in each poem. How does the season guide the subject matter and the tone of each poem?

    Question

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    Chapter 5: “Mending Wall” is a spring poem, while “The Wood-Pile” seems to take place deep in winter. Discuss how the different seasons affect the view Frost takes in each poem. How does the season guide the subject matter and the tone of each poem?
  4. Both of these poems pay keen attention to what is moving and changing in nature and what is still and unchanging. Find some lines that illustrate each—the dynamic and the static. Does Frost ever surprise you by describing something as still that you believe is moving, or vice versa? What do these images tell you about his understanding of the natural world?

    Question

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    Chapter 5: Both of these poems pay keen attention to what is moving and changing in nature and what is still and unchanging. Find some lines that illustrate each—the dynamic and the static. Does Frost ever surprise you by describing something as still that you believe is moving, or vice versa? What do these images tell you about his understanding of the natural world?