subject) Frost often stated that he felt ‘spoken to’ by nature. He called these incidents ‘nature favors’ and these favors served as inceptors of his poems. Many people refer to him as a nature poet, however there is always a person, a character in his nature poetry.(subject/setting) Frost always claimed he wasn’t a nature poet and that there is almost always a person in the poem and that the poem is about the person, not about nature, which is usually beautifully described. Nature seemed to be Frost’s furniture.(language/tone) Frost makes much of tone and depends upon the sound of the voice-tone to communicate the emphasis of the poem, such as the ‘oh’ and the hyphen in ‘old-stone savage’. If you’ve ever heard a reading by Frost of Mending Wall you would notice that he stresses these lines, as well as “I’d rather he said it for himself”. The tone of Mending Wall is an important factor in understanding the poem. Within these simple, yet complex lines Frost has incorporated the tone of remininces, reflection, sarcasm and irony.(lang./tone) The living part of the poem is the intonation for it is only here for those who have heard it before. It is the most volatile and at the same time important part of any poem.(lang/tone) Much of the appeal of Mending Wall can be attributed to Frost’s use of language as it is spoken with a vocabulary which is natural and which includes the texture of the tongues from which it comes.(lang/tone) Those who read it could readily sense the personalities and emotions that exist within the dialogue.(lang/style) Frost’s style in Mending Wall is plain, direct, conversational. It is simple on the surface but there’s an obscurity and a depth that the reader can’t quite get inside of.(lang/style) Frost’s poetry is deceptively simple but there is a deep mysterious underside which is very intere...
