Mending Wall

My reaction to this poem is that two neighbors work together to fix the fence so that each can make sure that their property lines are defined properly. The quote within the poem that is reiterated is, "'Good fences make good neighbors"' (Frost 27, 45). The importance of mending the fence (sounds like it is a annual thing), builds the bonds between neighbors as they work together to fix it. It also sounds like the speaker thinks it is somewhat non-purposeful to have a fence if you don't have cows. It also appears to me that they debate on whether they are "...walling in or walling out" (Frost 33). Are they trying to keep things in or keeps things out? It actually seems like they make a game out of this fixing of the wall. Even though my literary preference is not poetry, I somewhat enjoy Robert Frost's poems.