The Poems Mending Wall And Home Burial Are About Division, Both On Ess

The poems ?Mending Wall' and ?Home Burial' are about division, both on a physical level and on a mental level. ?Mending Wall' on first reading is a very simplistic poem about the annual repairing of a wall but after closer reading we can see it has a darker meaning. The poem begins with a disjointed sentence, which immediately attracts the reader's eye. ?Something there is that doesn't love a wall,' The use of the word ?Something' arouses the reader's curious nature to read on to find out what this ?Something' is. The tone of this is casual and unimposing. The author proceeds in a conversational tone speaking of the reasons to explain the breaking down of the wall. The reasons given are all quite practical but yet through these reasons we get a glimpse of the message, which the author desperately wants us to find. ?And make gaps even two can pass abreast.' Even though the poem is about division and separation we have a theme of unity in this line creeping through. The speaker expresses an awe of nature and a deep-rooted respect this is displayed in the way he talks about the breaking of the wall by nature. ?That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it And spills the upper boulders in the sun,' The use of the alliteration of the s's is very calming and the sounds create a flowing movement. ?And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again.' The author uses the words ?meet' and ?between us' in close proximity to each other to give the impression that although the two men work together for the same reason they are actually working alone. The wall is a barrier that both separates them and yet unifies them in the fixing of it. ?We have to use a spell to make them balance;' The use of the word spell hints at magically overtones by the author lets the reader know that all things are possible. The words ?game' and ?one on a side' further emphasize the theme of division . There is never any direct speech between the two men but yet through the speaker we learn about what the other man thinks about the wall. ?Good fences make good neighbours.' The speaker does not think the wall is necessary ?There where it is we do not need the wall.' The suggestion is always implied by the speaker but yet never spoken out loud. The author has a playful nature and through the poem it is displayed, ?Spring is the mischief in me,....' The author uses the word ?offense' as an appropriate play on words a symbol of the poem's spirit of play and freedom. The author repeats the opening line as if to reawaken the thoughts he had left behind. The speaker in the poem makes a lighthearted attempt at a suggestion for the walls breaking, ?....I could say ?Elves' to him,' even though this is humorous thought the neighbour would never think of it. It is only through the speaker's imagination that he thought of elves; the other man's thoughts are confined to reality. The speaker sees the man in a different light. He is a serious man with little time for ?flights of fantasy' the speaker describes him as an ?old-stone savage armed.' The speaker is not referring to his physically appearance but to his mind and its workings. The other man in the poem is concerned with rituals any diversion from his normal thinking is a bad thing. The creative and imaginative side of his brain lies dormant. ?He will not go behind his father's saying. And he likes having thought of it so well' The other man in the poem is trapped by work and possibly his own past as it comes to him in the words his father said. He is tied down by these words not just physically by the mending of the wall but also mentally when he takes everything on a rational level no form of escapism is applied in his life. The poem highlights two types of people in today's world. The first is represented by the speaker a man who lives by no mental boundaries. The second is represented by the second man in the poem who is totally oblivious to the gift of imagination. The wall is more a mental thing that shields