Robert Frost Speech

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Robert Frost Interview Interviewer: Hello everyone, this is “Famous Poets” and we are here today with one of America’s greatest poets, Robert Frost, whose easily accessible poems have resonated through all demographics from their publication till this day. Thanks for joining us Robert. Frost: It’s my pleasure. Interviewer: We’ll begin with Mending Wall, one of my personal favourites. What are the major themes you were trying to convey? Frost: For me, Mending Wall was a way in which I could capture those paradoxes that exist in our society that are able to simultaneously divide and unite us. By attempting to encapsulate the at times irrational behaviour of human nature I was able to get to the heart of the issue of the poem, that the mending of the wall is necessary, as it becomes a source of unity and peace between the neighbours. The barriers that exist in society between people, and their interactions with each other are explored in this poem as well as the sense of security people can gain from these barriers. Interviewer: This poem is, in a nutshell, about two neighbours meeting annually to mend a wall that lies between their adjourning properties. You have cleverly interwoven the literal and metaphoric meaning of the poem, with the literal wall representing the barrier that separates the neighbours’ friendship. Some say that Mending Wall is an ironic metaphor on the self-imposed isolation of human beings, do you agree? Frost: Yes I do, and I think it is a valid view, as throughout the poem the speaker questions the neighbour repeatedly on the need for the wall, with lines such as “Why do they make good neighbours?”. Despite the speaker questioning the use of the wall, it is he who instigates the mending each year, “I let my neighbour know beyond the hill”. This is the paradox that is at the forefront of this poem, and I believe the reason why he is
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