Robert Frost identified himself with rural New England, and in the poem “Mending Wall,” I identified with this rural setting. The poem “Mending Wall,” is about two neighbors who have a wall that separates their land from one another. This poem tells the story of two neighbors who must repair and mend their wall each year. Frost uses free verse in “Mending Wall,” and no stanza breaks. The “Mending Wall,” could represent, separation of society by a barrier, how nature will always conquer man, and human stubbornness and their persistence of tradition and the dislike of change.

The Speaker’s neighbor in the poem repeats and old adage throughout “Mending Wall,” he states “Good fences make good neighbors.” (Line 26, 45) This adage represents tradition and foundation for society. Walls represent literal boundaries and rights, the mending of wall represents keeping those rules and boundaries in place. The mending also represents the sense of community among neighbors and society.

Frost’s speaker in the poem almost seems against the wall and finds humor in the task of mending the wall, but if you take a closer look at the speaker he is a contradiction. It is the speaker who sets the date to mend the wall, and the speakers still continues to patch up his side of the wall throughout the year, even though he says he sees’ the wall as no use.

William Butler Yeats is a poet of many words and of few. In the poem “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven,” Yeats uses few words, but still convey’s an in-depth concept using symbolism. The peome “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven,” is about being in love and possibly his lover.

In the first stanza Yeats is writing about the beauty of love. He describes heaven embroidered cloths in detail. If the cloths were from heaven it would give them a “god-like” quality, making them the most beautiful thing any human has seen. The use of the colors gold and silver represent items that are expensive and can be rare. The color blue can also represent royalty. Being from royalty would place one above the common people and they would be at the top of the social class. The word “clothsl” in this poem is symbolism for love, and how he views love. A beautiful thing of value and that is rare.

In the second stanza Yeats describes giving these rare and valuable cloths away to the one he loves. He brings the second stanza into a reality by stating that he is poor and only has his dreams. Yeats dream represents the dream of love and what he would offerhis love if he could obtain it. He asks this person he loves to consider his dreams and to tread softly on his dreams. He asks this hoping that his love will consider what he is offering and not bring down his dreams.

From this poem I picked up a sense of love divided by socail class standing. A man whose dreams are unobtainable under his circumstances, but whose dreams allow him to convey to his love his wants and desires.

To get the ball rolling on my first blog post, I am going to write my reaction over the poet Thomas Hardy. I found him to be a very pessimistic poet while reading his works. I have chosen the poem "Neutral Tones" to discuss in today's blog post.
 "Neutral Tones" is a poem about a relationship that does not last. Hardy hints or suggests that he should have seen the doomed relationship coming. In the first stanza, fourth line, Hardy mentions "they had fallen from an ash, and were gray." Hardy's mention of a dark and gloomy color is a foreshadowing of what is to come in the poem. The first thing I noticed and related to in this poem was the use of color. It jumped out at me, possibly because the poem's first stanza ends with the use of the color gray and in the fourth stanza once again ending with the description of the color gray.
In the first stanza, first line; Hardy describes the setting of this poem on a winter day at the pond. When I picture winter I visualize bare trees, grass less grounds, overcast skies that are gray and not clear blue. I feel the cold and a sense of loneliness. During winter it is as if all things go away and all that is left is emptiness. I believe the first stanza emphasizes on setting. I do not believe Hardy describes the setting to let the reader know where the event or this poem is taking place, but to give the reader a sense of what is to come in the next three stanza's. I felt the setting of a winter day and throughout the poem I grasped an even stronger sense of death and emptiness.
The second stanza is almost reminiscent of their past love. Hardy describes her wandering eyes that gaze upon him. Hardy also mentions being lost by their love. He seems to be remembering a pleasant time when nothing mattered except each other's company.
I viewed the third stanza as his past memories, but past memories that could have possibly been a hint into what the future would hold for these two lovers. Lines one and two in stanza three, "The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing, Alive enough to have the strength to die." These two lines alone represent the life and death of love in a relationship. I also believe that they tie back into that sense of loneliness, death and emptiness that a winter day and the color of gray can portray. Lines three and four in stanza three "And a grin of bitterness swept thereby," "Like an ominous bird a-wing..." gave me a feeling that this love was not lasting. The words "swept" and "ominous" were key indicators that their love was not going to last, and that these feelings would soon end. The use of the simile "Like an ominous bird a-wing..." is a very powerful line for me. Ominous meaning something bad or unpleasant that is going to happen, informs the reader what is next, but the use of relating it to a "bird a-wing," described the death of their love. When I think of a bird or wings I envision leaving, flying away, nothing permanent.
The fourth and last stanza, brings the whole poem together. It is the explanation to what Hardy is truly writing about. It ties back in the setting, which is used this time for the use of his feelings. We know after this stanza that the love did not last and he finds love to be empty and untrue.