Robert Frost's Love and a Question, Mending Wall, and Home Burial

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Robert Frost's "Love and a Question," "Mending Wall," and "Home Burial"

In Robert Frost’s poems “Love and a Question,” “Mending Wall,” and “Home Burial,” there is a significant barrier present between man and man or woman. Conflict between people is a major theme for these poems, and it alters the outcome of them. There is a great deal of tension present between the characters, causing unstable relationships, as well as a desire for no relationship at all. These three poems are based around knowing that conflict is inevitable, and it evidently causes a desire for little to no human interaction.

In “Love and a Question,” there is tension between man and man and man and woman. The bridegroom is faced with a decision on whether to provide shelter to a stranger for the night and sacrifice quality time with his wife, or not let him stay and have a romantic evening with his wife as he originally planned. In “Mending Wall,” the speaker has trouble fathoming why his neighbor desires to have some separation from him. It seems that for the most part, the neighbor would rather be more in touch with nature than other human beings. In “Home Burial,” a husband and wife develop a barrier created by the death of their child. The wife is upset about her husband’s lack of emotion, which causes her to have thoughts in her head questioning the relationship she has with her husband.

In the poem “Love and a Question,” there is conflict between man and man, as well as man and woman. According to Robert Frost’s wife, Elinor Frost, this poem describes “the dilemma a newly-married young farmer faces one cold evening when a tramp comes to his door and asks for shelter: should the farmer spoil his honeymoon by letting a stranger into his...

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...wife hopes he to be, since he is unable to give her love unconditionally. In “Mending Wall,” the speaker wants to befriend his neighbor and tries to do so, but his neighbor would prefer not to interact. In “Home Burial,” the husband is clearly not what the wife wants him to be since he will not show emotion in front of her. I think these three poems are a perfect example of Frost’s attempt to create conflict between people. I feel like he creates conflict in his narrative poetry to draw in the interest of the reader. All three of these poems hold a question: Which type of love will the stranger choose? Will the speaker and the neighbor really remain separate? Will the relationship between the husband and wife survive? Though Frost never gives a direct answer to these barriers, he fully grabs the attention of the reader, thus making them eager for an answer.

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