Nature And Society In Robert Frost's Mending Wall

In Mending Wall, nature seems to be the third wheel of the story, the silent character surrounding the neighbours. However, the protagonist of Mending Wall has profound respect for nature and the beings that occupy it. He uses nature in trying to convince the neighbour not to build a wall. This is evident when the persona says “… apple trees will never get across/ … and eat the cones under his pines…”. The apple trees are personified as the speaker claims that they will never cross onto the neighbour’s property and eat his pine cones. Contrastingly for the neighbour, nature acts as the force that is prevents him from building the wall. The protagonist tries to convince him otherwise, however the neighbour does not trust nature to bring peace. …show more content…
The protagonist of Tuft of Flowers meets a butterfly that is a symbolic representation of a wandering spirit that becomes the catalyst of his discovery. Before the butterfly is introduced the persona is convinced that the world is a lonely place even in the company of others. This is established in lines 8 to 10 when the composer writes “alone…/ whether they work together or apart”. A negative tone is used to highlight the mournful message about human existence, even when surrounded by others. The theme nature vs society is demonstrated in line 26 through the phrase “butterfly-weed”. This expression is an antithesis of beauty and corruption, and life and death; the duality of life. Harmony has been evoked by sounds of imagery towards the end of the poem when the person uses words such as dew, brim and morning to suggest that the protagonist is finally happy. These words also symbolise the connectedness that he feels with the lawn mower which was evoked by the mowers decision to not destroy the natural habitat. A spiritual renewal and intellectual awareness has been achieved by both