Mending Wall

“The Tuft of Flowers” by Robert Frost (1913)

“Mending Wall” suggests that sometimes, even when people work together, they are still alone. Frost does not always present such a bleak outlook. An earlier poem, “The Tuft of Flowers,” sees two neighbors working separately, at different times of day, but still sharing a common goal of respecting the beauty of nature.

“Neighbour” by Iain Crichton Smith (2000)

Frost’s exhortation to dissolve barriers via the image of two neighbors is expanded upon in Iain Crichton Smith’s “Neighbour,” where fences are simply a part of the scenery and dualistic images of nature—snowdrops, blackbirds, and storms—comfortably pass between one property and the other.

“Next Door” by Helen Dunmore

Helen Dunmore’s “Next Door,” on the other hand, also treats the theme of neighbors, but follows the isolationist perspective from “Mending Wall” instead. Even when people mirror each other over the fence, she posits, they can never truly understand one other.