I am an allusion, a being, a structure, a presence. My durability and ruggedness protects, while my safety and closure comforts. I have traveled through history, been broken down, destroyed, defeated, but also fortified, rekindled, and rebuilt. From prisoners to families, bareness to fertility, new born to diseased, enemies to allies, old to new, light to dark, I have seen it all. Extravagant, monumental, outrageous, historical, spectacular, simple, natural, man made, important, necessary are all my names. My occupation is to enclose, protect, separate, bring together, and determine. Whether miles, kilometers, yards, feet, or inches is irrelevant. What defines me is textbook, what I am here for is vast, and what I symbolize is intangible. .
I believe in this poem that Frost is telling us something about our own relationships. It is obvious that the wall is broken each year and that each of the men hassles to mend it. This physical wall can be compared to our own present day emotional walls. Our relationships are not meant to be bitter, segregated, or "walled." The wall breaks religiously each year, just as our barriers break in our relationships. It is not natural for one to have defeating problems in their relationships. A very interesting symbol is that of the pine on the neighbor's side of the fence and the apples on that of the speakers. Pine never changes, it always has the same appearance of color as well as height. This shows the personality of the neighbor being orthodox, restricted, and simply boring. Apple trees, on the other hand, happen to change. In the winter they die and in due season they produce their fruit. The speakers personality is that he is opinionated but is also open to change. Although the speaker wishes to have nothing to do with his neighbor, the issue of the fence is compromised due to the fact that the speaker comes in to contact with his neighbor once a year, simply to rebuild the wall that separates them.
