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The Newfound Politics of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" 1
Ars Artium: An International Refereed Research Journal
of English Studies and Culture
ISSN (Print): 2319-7889 ••
••
• ISSN (Online): 2395-2423
Vol. 10, January 2022
Pp. 1-9
https://www.arsartium.org
The Newfound Politics of Robert Frost's
"Mending Wall"
Mohammad Jalilian*
Hossein Nazari**
Abstract
Art has always been closely intertwined with politics, and throughout history
many artists have protested, both through their art and their political activism,
against unjust political actions. In recent history, the Vietnam War era saw the
rise of political art, a prime example of which could be observed in the
proliferation of protest posters in the era. The ascendance of Donald Trump to
the highest political office in the United States, and the fierce opposition by
many American artists to him, marked another chapter in the battle between
arts and politics. Against this backdrop, this article aims to analyze the way in
which one of Robert Frost’s most famous poems, “Mending Wall” (1914), was
appropriated by the anti-Trump media to criticize his highly contentious immigration
policies. In so doing, this article discusses “Mending Wall” and some of its recent
po litical inte rpretati ons through juxtaposing two articles on the poem published in Los
Angeles Times and The Washington Post, respectively. We argue that in their
attempt to either support or oppose the building of the wall on the US-Mexico
border, the authors offer a blinkered view of “Mending Wall” to serve their own
political agendas. Frost’s poem, however, transcends the boundaries of reductive
politics by leaving the narrative open-ended, which, in turn, encourages the readers
* MA Student in English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature,
Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Tehran, Iran. Email:
mohammad.jalilian@ut.ac.ir
** Assistant Professor of English Literature, Department of English Language and
Literature, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Tehran,
Tehran, Iran. Email: nazarih@ut.ac.ir (corresponding author)
2 Ars Artium, Vol. 10, 2022
to come to their own conclusions over the question of the wall—a fact that can
account for the sustained interest in the poem since its publication.
Keywords: Political art, Mending Wall, immigration, literature of protest, Donald
Trump, Robert Frost
Introduction: “Mending Wall” and the Politics of Being an Artist
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that art has always been political, and poetry,
as one of the oldest and most popular art forms, has been no exception. Politicized
art, however, is a different entity. In his influential 1935 essay, “The Work of Art in
the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Walter Benjamin defines the politicization of
art as the subordination of art to political life to advance certain political actions,
mainly war (19). External elements deciding the meaning of a work of art based on
contemporary politics and modern sensibilities do little to advance the messages
contained within the art, and reduce it to just another weapon in partisan fights.
Loading a work of art or literature with political messages renders it less unique and
turns it into a tool in the hands of those with a political agenda to score political
points against their opponents. Of course, politics has always been a part of art, but
the subordination of art to politics alienates those with different opinions than the
authors, and may even repel those who engage with a work of literature for purposes
other than its immediate political function.
The use of art and literature for political means has perhaps never been starker
than during the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump. In order to discredit
the man whom they saw as a threat to democracy, many artists and media decided
to use works of art as cultural forces against his highly controversial politics.
Poetry played a significant role in this respect, and was employed to juxtapose
poetical excellence with the crude nature of Trump’s politics and personality. Some
critics went so far as claiming that under Donald Trump the United States headed
toward Fascism (Billet 2016, para. 15). What, however, was often overlooked was
the fact that he was not the cause of this perceived decline in American politics, but
rather the symptom of it. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Wall Street bailout after the
economic crash of 2008, and the shipping of American jobs overseas made it
existential for many voters to change the status quo, and many of them invested
their hopes in Donald Trump as the agent of change. On the other hand, some
mainstream outlets, such as Vox, regarded racism to be the main factor in his victory
(Lopez 2017).
The Newfound Politics of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" 3
Robert Frost’s famous “Mending Wall” became a rallying cry for those opposed
to Donald Trump’s notorious plan of building a wall on the border between the
United States and Mexico. Obviously, the poem was written more than a century
before Trump ever proposed such plans. However, the fictional argument between
the two neighbors, one pro-wall and other anti-wall, was seen as a parallel to the
cold relationship between the neighboring nations, both before Trump took office
and after that. News organizations such as The Washington Post (Petri 2019) and
The Los Angeles Times (Nazaryan 2016) took that opportunity to rail against his
rhetoric about border-related issues by analyzing Frost’s poem in a new light.
Indeed, not all the revived attention given to “Mending Wall” has come from
those against the former president of the United States. Some outlets, such as
Classical Poets, took advantage of the climate, and interpreted the poem in a wall-
friendly manner (Mantyk 2019). Even Mike Pence, Trump’s Vice President, used a
recurring phrase in “Mending Wall”, “Good fences make good neighbors”, to make
his point about the need for a wall (27, 45), as ironic as Pence’s appropriation of the
poem may sound, given that the poem suggests the exact opposite. The proverb, indeed,
had existed long before Frost’s poem, but given that “Mending Wall” had become a
big part of the discussion around the border wall, Pence’s use of that sentence
could have been intentional.
This article, therefore, examines Frost’s poem and a number of its political
interpretations in the context of the discussions around building a wall on the US-Mexico
border. Two articles published in Los Angeles Times and The Wa sh ington Po st will
be analyzed, com pared, and contrasted to highlight the anti-wall narrative. The poem
itself, along with an article by Classical Poetry will also be examined. This third
article will be used to illustrate the pro-wall agenda. In the end, Frost’s intentions,
and each side of the argument concerning the wall will be explored.
“Mending Wall”: One Poem and Many Interpretations in the
Age of Trump
Frost was not willing to share the meaning of “Mending Wall,” and wanted to keep
that to himself (Nazaryan 2016, para. 10). In a piece for Los Angeles Times,
Alexander Nazaryan alludes to this point, and attempts to understand the desire of
Donald Trump and his supporters for building a wall, and its connection to the poem
(para. 15). He puts Frost above polemics, and elevates the artistic qualities of his
poem (para. 5). He also urges Trump and his fans to read the poem more carefully,
so that they can understand the wisdom inside it, outside of the phrase that they
liked to quote out of context.
4 Ars Artium, Vol. 10, 2022
Nazaryan sees Trump’s coalition of voters not as a monolith, but as a group of
people motivated by different objectives. After conceding that some of the people
who voted for Trump are probably racist, he proceeds to say:
But many of those who support Trump are simply frightened; the wall
represents a bulwark not so much against the Islamic State or the Sinaloa
Cartel, but against the 21st century, blowing across the dark fields of the
republic like one of those punishing New Hampshire winds that come in
October and stay through March. (para. 15)
Nazaryan sees Trump’s proposed wall and people’s responses to it as more
than a mere race-baiting tactic. He seems to be reluctant to give Trump
supporters the benefit of the doubt, and assumes that they might have some real
issues with the migrant flow from Mexico, but he does not resort to simple
name-calling. He views their problem to be with the broader concept of progress,
and that is why he urges them to read Frost’s poem.
Alexandra Petri, in an opinion piece for The Washington Post, chose a
different path. She made a parody of Frost’s poem called “Good Pences make good
neighbors” as a response to the aforementioned quote by Mike Pence (Petri 2019,
para. 4). While Nazaryan’s article was an invitation for the critical examination of
Frost’s poem, Petri settles for political jabs at her opponents. As such, her article
offers little room for nuances or subtlety. Furthermore, Petri argues that Frost’s
use of the proverb “Good fences make good neighbors” was meant to be ironic
(para. 3). However, the irony of the statement remains only a matter of speculation.
In fact, one could argue that not only does Frost not provide any indication that irony
was the reason behind the inclusion of the proverb, but also a more careful
examinatio n of the poem may indicate that he wa s not tryin g to p ortray the pro-wall
neighbor as a figure to ridicule. In the figure of his neighbor, the speaker sees someone
with whom many people can identify, even though Frost himself was not probably
one of them.
In the closing of her mock-poem, “Good Pences make good neighbors”, Petri
writes:
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
Nor should he; what was good enough for Dad
Is good enough for me, from measles to
The general threat of Nazis. Good. We need
The Newfound Politics of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" 5
The wall. We’ve got to build the wall. And I agree.
Good Pences make good neighbors. (para. 4)
Petri goes as far as equating a call for a specific measure of border control to the
possible resurgence of Nazis. She views the supporters of Donald Trump as
backward-looking people who are opposed to the many improvements made possible
by modernity, such as vaccines.
The disposition to manipulate a work of art to your will is hardly a new concept.
However, the manner in which such appropriation is carried out can serve as a telling
factor. Nazaryan and Petri are both left-of-center writers, resistant to the idea that
there is a need for a wall between the two countries. But while the former is
unwilling to condemn all supporters of such a wall and brand them as racists, Petri
takes the easy road and suggests that the whole movement is disposed toward
Nazism. It is perhaps this same confidence in Petri that leads her to value her own
interpretation of the poem above others’ and drives her to the conclusion that Frost’s use
of the proverb “Good fences make good neighbors” was ironic.
It should also be emphasized here that the two pieces also adopt very different
tones. Nazaryan’s article is a serious piece about the dangers of limitations, especially
in regard to the kind of people that we want around us. In the last paragraph of his
article, he compares Trump with Frost, and argues that a demagogue like Trump
uses walls for his own purposes, while an artist like Frost uses it to make something
as thought-provoking as “Mending Wall” (para. 19).
Petri’s piece, on the other hand, is a satire, and holding it to the same standard as
a serious article would be unreasonable. Yet, since it was published in a mainstream
outlet with a significant following, one would expect a fairer representation. Frost
took great care in portraying the pro-wall neighbor in a manner that would probably
seem fair and balanced to most readers of his poem. Petri, however, seems to have
jumped to conclusion, portraying those supportive of Donald Trump, through the
person of Mike Pence, as motivated by race.
Apart from Nazaryan’s and Petri’s interpretation, examining the poem on its
own reveals larger truths. While the two authors, each in their own way, try to
prioritize their own views, Frost lets both sides of his poem’s argument to develop
equally. While he evidently devotes more space to the view held by the anti-wall
neighbor, who is also the speaker of the poem, this does not imply that he makes a
caricature of the second, pro-wall neighbor. He communicates the neighbor’s
reasoning for such a wall, mostly through the aforementioned proverb, which is also
the most well-known line of the entire poem.
6 Ars Artium, Vol. 10, 2022
Right-wing and conservative voices have clung on the proverb mentioned by
Frost in his poem for obvious reasons. They ma y not necessarily assume that Frost
was channeling his own thoughts through the pro-wall neighbor, but they use it
without much thought given to the rest of the poem. That is also the case with Evan
Mantyk in his 2019 “Trump’s Border Wall Revives Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’ (and a
Poet’s Response)”, published in Classical Poets. Mantyk mostly focuses on
criticizing the liberal co-optation of the poem, but in the end, he shares a parody
version of “Mending Wall” that he had written called “Building Wall”. In his poem,
he even takes some jabs at Frost himself, because he believes that Frost was
mocking the pro-wall neighbor (para. 8). This, indeed, is a reductive reading of
Frost’s poem and a blinkered view of what Frost meant to accomplish by his poem.
In his poem, Frost refuses to prescribe what he thinks the best solution is. Rather,
he develops both sides of the argument and lets the reader decide for themselves.
This is a fact that seems to have escaped Mantyk and others who are willing to
insist that Frost favored one neighbor over the other.
Toward the end of his mock-poem, Mantyk chooses to directly compare and contrast
his beliefs with what he thought Frost incorporated in his poem:
No, it was Frost who had a wall in heart
That tore tradition’s timeless truth apart…
So if a man requests a wall, then build it.
It’s more than what you think you see that willed it. (lines 25-28)
Mantyk, however, seems to have misinterpreted Frost’s intentions. He believes that
Frost only wanted to take the speaker’s arguments seriously, which is at best a
dubious suggestion. While Frost might have been more supportive of the speaker’s
stance himself, he portrays the other neighbor in a fair and even-handed manner. As
Milton Reigelman wrote in The Advocate-Messenger, “Frost thinks the poem’s
speaker and his neighbor are as balanced, morally, as the stones they together cast
spells on.” (2019, para. 10)
Frost’s speaker makes his points for why he thinks there should not be a wall
between the two houses. By saying “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”
twice in lines 1 and 35, the speaker makes his disdain for the concept of walls clear.
Nevertheless, Frost does not foreground this view as the only perspective in his
poem, even the only valid one. In fact, each time that the speaker uses the
abovementioned phrase, the pro-wall neighbor answers with “Good fences make
good neighbors.” A clear battle of the two different ideologies is at play in the
The Newfound Politics of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" 7
poem, and Frost does not use his own convictions to give more credence to one or
another. Th is balance, therefore, can serve as a model and a clea r example of artistic
integrity that even the most partisan ideologues cannot corrupt.
Conclusion
For much of history, art and politics have been interconnected, and whether artists
mean for their works to be viewed through a specific political lens or not, partisans
of all stripes will find ways to appropriate them for their own political agendas.
Frost’s “Mending Wall” can serve as an apt example of the co-optation of literature
for political ends. During an unusually charged political climate in the history of the
United States, and with many discussions around the issue of illegal immigration
and its possible solutions, both the left and the right tried to claim the phenomenal
verse of Robert Frost.
Most of this article was dedicated to the analysis of the interpretation of
“Mending Wall’ by those in left-wing circles. The choice in doing so was, indeed,
obvious. Since Frost allocates most of the poem to conveying the views of the
speaker, one may be forgiven for mistaking that for Frost’s own view, as
demonstrated above. However, the durability of this poem is due to the fact that it
leaves the door open for different interpretations. It would hardly be surprising if in
the future people with opposing views used “Mending Wall” to advance their own
agenda again. The issue of being welcoming or reserved, especially as a nation, can
manifest itself in many different situations, and when it does, Frost’s poem is there
to make both sides of the argument all over again.
In a 2017 article about political art in the age of Trump, titled “Is Political Art the
Only Art That Matters Now?” published in Vulture, Carl Swanson described the
various ways in which some artists had tried to combat the President through art
(Swanson, 2017). The antagonistic and blunt approaches of some of those pieces of
art make us appreciate the delicate and subtle construction of Frost’s poem even
more. Frost is unwilling to offer his readers a black-and-white picture of right versus
wrong, but rather chooses to draw the readers’ attention to different views that can
co-exist and be respectfully considered. Indeed, it is much more convenient to point
a finger and tell others what to think; it is much more difficult to provide them with
the tools they need to be equipped with to reach their own conclusions.
Ultimately, the lasting qualities of a poem that defy neat ideological boxes
preferred by prejudiced parties always triumph over political manipulation and self-
interest, as observed in the fact that Trump’s age and all the controversies it
8 Ars Artium, Vol. 10, 2022
engendered have almost come to an end now, but the interest in the poem has not.
If Frost’s mission was to open dialogue between the different people who are
represented by the two neighbors, then he has been successful. More than a
century after it was published, “Mending Wall” still generates new views on
important topics such as immigration. What happens in the future is unknown, but
it is more than likely that Frost’s “Mending Wall” will play a role in it again.
Works Cited
•Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction.” Illuminations, edited by Hannah Arendt, Schocken Books,
1969, pp. 1-26.
•Billet, Alexander. “Donald Trump and the Aesthetics of Fascism.” In These
Times, www.inthesetimes.com/article/donald-trump-and-the-aesthetics-of-
fascism. Accessed 12 Aug. 2021.
•Frost, Robert. “Mending Wall.” Tendencies in Modern American
Poetry, edited by Amy Lowell, Macmillan, 1917, pp. 92-93.
•Lopez, German. “The past year of research has made it very clear: Trump
won because of racial resentment.” Vox, www.vox.com/identities/2017/
12/15/16781222/trump-racism-economic-anxiety-study. Accessed 15 Aug.
2021.
•MacFarlane, Rachel. “A Brief History of Protest Art.” Format,
www.format.com/magazine/features/art/brief-history-protest-art.
Accessed 12 Aug. 2021.
•Mantyk, Evan. “Trump’s Border Wall Revives Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’
(and a Poet’s Response).” Classical Poets, www.classicalpoets.org/2019/
02/22/trumps-border-wall-revives-frosts-mending-wall-and-a-poets-
response/. Accessed 1 9 July 2021.
•Nazaryan, Alexander. “Donald Trump Should Read Robert Frost’s Poem
‘Mending Wall.’” Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/books/
jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-frost-wall-trump-20160706-snap-story.html.
Accessed 19 July 2021.
•Petri, Alexandra. “Good Pences make good neighbors.” The Washington
Post, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/07/good-pences-
make-good-neighbors/. Accessed 19 July 2021.
The Newfound Politics of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" 9
•Resnick, Brian. “Protest Posters from the Vietnam Era.” The Atlantic,
www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/protest-posters-from-the-
vietnam-era/243029/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2021.
•Reigelman, Milton. “Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’ Could Help Mending Fences
Over Trump’s Wall.” The Advocate-Messenger, www.amnews.com/2019/
01/28/frosts-mending-wall-could-help-mend-fences-over-trumps-wall/.
Accessed 15 Aug. 2021.
•Swanson, Carl. “Is Political Art the Only Art That Matters Now?” Vulture,
www.vulture.com/2017/04/is-political-art-the-only-art-that-matters-
now.html. Accessed 15 Aug. 2021.