Homework Help: english

Posted by Rebecca on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:01pm.

what are some poetic devices used in the following poem?
"Mending Wall" by Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing: 5
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made, 10
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go. 15
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
“Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”
We wear our fingers rough with handling them. 20
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across 25
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it 30
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, 35
That wants it down.” I could say “Elves” to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. 40
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors"

English - Ms. Sue, Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:06pm
Study the definitions and examples at this site.

http://storytrail.com/poetry/poeticdevices.htm

What poetic devices have you found in the poem?
english - Rebecca, Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:09pm
the poetic devices i have found so far:
Alliteration - "What i was walling in or walling out"
Parallelism "The wall between us"
Simile "In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed"
i need 10 altogether, and i can use a poetic device more than once.
are these right so far?
english - GuruBlue, Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:16pm
Those look great to me!
english - Rebecca, Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:26pm
thank you!
i just found 5 more, could you please check if theyre right?
Alliteration "And some are loaves and some so nearly balls"
Internal Rhyme "There where it is we do not need the wall"
Alliteration “But it’s not elves exactly”
Repetition “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”
Repetition “Good fences make good neighbors"
english - Rebecca, Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:38pm
how could i explain this poem in one or two sentances?
english - Rebecca, Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 1:23pm
how could i explain the message the poet is expressing to us in at least 8 sentances?
english - Rebecca, Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 1:52pm
This is what i have so far:
The message that the poet is expressing to us has both a literal and metaphoric meaning. There is the literal meaning of building a wall, and a deeper metaphoric meaning, which is that the wall is a barrier that separates the neighbours in their friendship. The mending of the wall ironically brings the neighbours together and literally builds their friendship, proven by the phrase “Good fences make good neighbours”.
is this good so far?
is there anything else that you think i should add?

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