Selection 4: Poetry about Putting Up Barriers

Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?

How many of us have had to rake up leaves blown over to our yard from a tree growing in a neighbor's yard or have endured the sight of an UNKEMPT (disorderly, messy) lawn next door? What does make for a "good neighbor" and do barriers help make "good neighbors"? Frost's poem "Mending Wall" presents opposing views on barriers (a wall in this case) erected between two pieces of property, neighbors.

Before reading "Mending Wall," go to the Pre-Reading questions for the poem.

Read Frost's poem "Mending Wall." This poem, like Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player," is written in IAMBIC PENTAMETER, a highly stylized and fixed format: each line has five IAMBS. Remember, an IAMB is a POETIC FOOT comprised of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Here's an example: unsure = un + SURE The word "unsure" is an IAMB because it contains an unstressed syllable ("un") followed by a stressed syllable ("SURE"). Here's line 9 from the poem to show five IAMBS in one line...the red numbers count the iambs:          1                   2                3                    4             5 "to PLEASE the YELPing DOGS. the GAPS i MEAN." Did you notice that the word "yelping" was split between two IAMBS. The second IAMB in the line is "the YELP" and the third IAMB is "ing DOGS." Had enough? Ready to read? Click here for the text of the poem.

Mending Wall audio

After reading "Mending Wall," go to the Post-Reading questions for the poem.

NEXT: Lesson 2 Writing--Monologues in Fences