B”H
“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost
a 5-Point Literature Unit created by Sarah Greenberg
Yeshivat Bnai Akiva Lapid Modiin
Presented to: Mrs. Karen Guth
Pre-Reading
When you hear the word “wall”, what comes to mind? Take a minute to generate a list of
associations you have with the word “wall”. After the minute is over, share your list with
the student sitting next to you. Did you have any associations in common? If so, which
ones? (5 minutes)
With your partner, answer the following questions: (15-20 minutes)
1. Give 2-3 examples of physical walls. Write a sentence to explain each example.
2. Give 2-3 examples of intangible (non-physical) walls. Write a sentence to explain each
example.
3. What is the purpose of a wall?
4. When are walls necessary? When are walls unnecessary?
5. The title of our poem is “Mending Wall”. A synonym for “mending” is “fixing”. What do
you think the poem will be about? Take a guess and record it here in a sentence or two.
As a class, pairs of students will share selected answers to the questions as part of a brief
class discussion. This class discussion will lead into the first read-through of the poem.
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Mending Wall
Robert Frost, 1874 – 1963
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35
40
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Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.'
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Basic Understanding: Vocabulary
Low-frequency words to be glossed:
frozen-ground-swell - ‫אדמה קפואה‬
pines - ‫אורנים‬
elves - ‫שדונים‬
savage - ‫פראי‬/‫איש ברברי‬
High-frequency words to be taught:
abreast – beside / to be informed
armed – ‫חמוש‬
boulder – rock
grasp – hold onto / to understand
loaf/loaves – ‫כיכר לחם‬
mischief – ‫מעשה קנדס‬
notion – idea/concept
spell – magic
yelp – yell
Fill in the sentences with the vocabulary words from the poem. You may need to change the
form of the word. Go for it! 
1. Young children often get into lots of ________________________________.
2. At every Shabbat meal, we have two ________________________________ of bread on the
table.
3. I’m trying to ________________________________ this difficult topic in math. Can you help
me with the homework?
4. She tries to stay ________________________________ of the news by checking two or three
newspapers online every day.
5. When the police arrived at the scene of the crime, they were __________________________.
6. The dog __________________________ for food because it was so hungry.
7. When he got the day off due to the snow in Jerusalem, he got a
__________________________ to make pancakes.
8. There were many __________________________ on the trail in the woods.
9. In fairy tales, there is often a witch who casts __________________________ on the main
characters.
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Basic Understanding - Questions
1. The speaker gives two reasons for the stones falling down. What are those two reasons?
2. When do the speaker and his neighbor repair the wall?
3. What is the neighbor’s motto?
Analysis & Interpretation
1a. Look at this drawing. What do you see?
1b. Now, take another look. Do you see anything
else?
Now, take a look at this drawing.
2a. What do you see on the left
versus the right?
2b. What is the difference between
the two drawings?
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3. What two images can you see
in this optical illusion drawing?
In each of the first three optical illusion drawings, you could see two different images in
each drawing. It’s not that one view is right or wrong. Rather, it is possible to see both the
old and the young woman. It all depends on how you look at the image.
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We each view the world through the lens of our own perspectives.
Distinguishing Different Perspectives is a thinking skill that enables you to see how
different people see an object, a person, or an event.
Consider the following scenarios:
Scenario #1: A teenage boy arrives an hour late to services on Shabbat morning when he’s
supposed to read the Torah portion. The congregation is already preparing for someone else
to read when he walks in.
o
What is the teenage boy’s perspective?
o
What is the congregation’s perspective?
Scenario #2: A student who is usually well-behaved suddenly starts misbehaving in class.
He picks a fight with another student and snaps at the teacher.
o
What is the student’s perspective?
o
What is the teacher’s perspective?
o
What is one possible classmate’s perspective?
Scenario #3: A middle-aged woman is wearing rags and is standing on a street corner
begging for money.
o
What is the homeless woman’s perspective?
o
What is one possible passerby’s perspective?
o
What is another possible passerby’s perspective?
Now that you understand the concept of Distinguishing Different Perspectives and how it
can be useful in everyday life, let’s turn our attention to the poem, “Mending Wall”.
1. Re-read lines 21-26 and 32-36 of the poem. What is the speaker’s perspective on the
wall?
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The speaker says “we do not need the wall” (line 23) because he has an apple orchard
and the neighbor has pine trees. There is no need to separate the two orchards
because they do not need to keep farm animals on one side or the other.
The speaker also feels offended by the wall. He says, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to
know…to whom I was like to give offense.” (lines 32-34) He feels that it is hard to like
a wall, that the natural human instinct is to try to climb over a wall or to knock it
down.
2. Towards the end of the poem, the speaker describes his neighbor: “He moves in darkness
as it seems to me,/Not of woods only and the shade of trees…” (lines 41-42) In your own
words, what is the speaker’s perspective on his neighbor?
The speaker feels that his neighbor is ignorant or uneducated. The speaker thinks
that his neighbor just repeats his father’s saying without thinking about whether the
saying really applies to their situation.
3. Re-read lines 27 and lines 42-45 of the poem. What is the neighbor’s perspective on the
wall?
The neighbor feels that “good fences make good neighbors.” It’s important to have a
wall between neighboring properties even if there is nothing to keep in or out.
4. What is your perspective of the speaker and of his neighbor? With whom do you agree
and why?
(open)
A symbol is an object that also represents an idea or a concept. For example, a rose is
often used as a symbol to represent beauty or love. The Star of David is a symbol for Israel
and for the Jewish people.
Symbolism is also a type of metaphor—drawing parallels between smaller objects and
larger concepts so readers can relate.
In this poem, the literal wall is a simple, stone wall on a New England farm that divides two
farms.
5. What is the symbolic meaning of the wall? In other words, what might the wall
represent?
The wall could represent the distance that human beings place between each other,
often for trivial reasons such as race, religion, or politics.
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6. Considering the symbolic meaning of the wall, explain the meaning of the neighbor’s
repeated phrase, “Good fences make good neighbors”.
Perhaps he feels that a fence reminds neighbors of what does and doesn’t belong to
them. Having a fence keeps the physical, emotional, and financial boundaries clear
between them.
Fences can keep people apart who might otherwise develop friendships. Sometimes,
people are afraid to become close to those who are different from them.
7. Considering the symbolic meaning of the wall, explain the speaker’s phrase, “Something
there is that doesn’t love a wall,/That wants it down.” (lines 35-36)
Most people want to develop strong relationships. We thrive in community. Dividing
people can prevent the development of strong relationships. It’s natural to want to
live in peace and harmony without walls. It is also natural to be upset living behind a
wall.
8. We live in Israel, a country with many complex fences and walls, both literal and
symbolic.
A. Describe the perspective, “good fences make good neighbors” in the context of Israel
today.
One of the big challenges Israel faces is security. Having lots of fences and walls has
lowered the incidence of terror attacks on Israelis. Therefore, strong security fences
help Israel’s neighbors to be “good”, meaning to commit fewer acts of terror.
B. Describe the perspective, “something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it
down” in the context of Israel today.
Although having lots of fences and walls may be unavoidable, it is still difficult for
those who have to live behind them. Many Palestinians have been separated from
their Israeli Arab relatives for years because of security fences. Many Israelis and
Palestinians live behind security fences which restrict their movement and limit
their options in life. It is natural for people who feel limited by fences to wish that
those fences did not exist.
Bridging Option #1

Watch the video clip:

Class Discussion – What connections can you make between this video clip and the
poem? What connections can you make between this video and life for many Israelis
and Palestinians today?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Bi6tiWNCk
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
Write a draft of the Bridging assignment, which is to answer the following question:
How does this video clip connect to the poem? Make sure your response has an
opening, 1-3 specific examples, and a conclusion.
The video clip about the Berlin Wall connects to the poem, “Mending Wall,”
because it reflects the perspective of the speaker in the poem. For example,
the first line of the poem is “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” The
opening image of the video clip is a group of innocent children playing ball. The
ball accidentally goes over the Berlin Wall, and the children must stop their
game. Immediately, the viewer feels the ugliness and sadness caused by the
Berlin Wall. Secondly, the speaker in the poem says, “Before I built a wall I’d
ask to know/What I was walling in or walling out,/And to whom I was like to
give offense.” (lines 32-34) In the video clip, the viewer sees all of the families
separated by the Berlin Wall—the father signaling to his children, and the many
people who risk their lives to escape from East to West Berlin. We see how
much “offense” and tragedy were caused by the Berlin Wall. Finally, the
speaker repeats the first line of the poem and then says that it is natural to
“[want] it [the wall] down.” (line 36) At the end of the video clip, the viewer sees
people breaking down the Berlin Wall when East and West Germany are
reunited. The viewer also sees people celebrating in the streets, indicating that
they are much happier with the Berlin Wall down than they were when it was
standing. In conclusion, the video clip is a clear illustration of the speaker’s
perspective from the poem, “Mending Wall”.
Bridging Option #2
Robert Frost once said, “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”
Does this quote reflect the same perspective as that of the speaker in “Mending Wall”, or a
different one? Explain, using specific examples from the text of the poem.
This quotation by Robert Frost does, in fact, reflect the same perspective as
that of the speaker in “Mending Wall” for several reasons. First of all, although the
speaker in the poem opens by saying, “something there is that doesn’t love a wall”
(line 1), he is the one who initiates mending it each spring. He says, “I let my
neighbor know beyond the hill…” (line 12) This indicates that, while the speaker isn’t
a fan of the wall, he understands that the wall is important to his neighbor.
Therefore, he is ready to repair it. Secondly, the speaker gently teases his neighbor
about how the apple and pine trees don’t need to be separated by a wall. Despite this
fact, he respects his neighbor’s saying, “good fences make good neighbors.” (line 27)
This saying is the reason why the wall was put up in the first place, or at least why
the neighbor feels it necessary to repair the wall each year. Finally, the speaker
wonders if he “could put a notion” in his neighbor’s head (line 29) by asking why the
wall is needed. Despite the speaker’s ongoing frustration with the existence of the
wall, he respects his neighbor’s desire to keep it up. In all of these ways, the speaker
supports Robert Frost’s view: “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it
was put up.” In this poem, the speaker knows why the neighbor wants the wall up.
Even though the speaker neither agrees nor understands his neighbor’s view, the
speaker is unprepared to take it down or fail to repair it because he knows why the
wall was put up.
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Post-Reading
1. In the poem, the speaker does not express his feelings about the wall to his neighbor.
Imagine that you are the speaker of the poem. Write a letter to your neighbor explaining
how you feel about the wall and what you think the two of you should do at spring mending
time.
2. Write a diary entry from the perspective of the neighbor who is so in favor of building and
repairing the wall. Explain why you feel as you do. Why is it such a good idea? What does
the wall accomplish?
3. Using PowerPoint or another similar application, create a slide show or a collage of
images connected to the poem. Present it to the class, making sure to explain the
connections between each image and the poem.
Reflection
1. Did you enjoy reading the poem? Give a reason for your answer.
(open)
2. How did learning the skill of Distinguishing Different Perspectives help you understand
the poem? How can it help you in life? Be specific.
(open)
3. Has this poem affected your ideas about how neighbors, neighboring communities,
and/or neighboring countries should behave towards each other? Explain.
(open)
A Review Sheet for the Summative Assessment on “Mending Wall”
Note: As always, please be sure to review the thinking skill from this unit (Distinguishing
Different Perspectives) as well as the thinking skills we’ve learned prior to this unit. Be
sure to review the literary term (symbolism) in your packets as well.
Review LOTS Questions
1. The speaker gives two reasons for the stones falling down. What are those two reasons?
2. When do the speaker and his neighbor repair the wall?
3. What is the neighbor’s motto?
4. Describe the setting of the poem and its significance.
5. The speaker compares the stones that have fallen to two different objects. What are they?
6. Is the work of repairing the wall easy or hard? How do you know? Bring evidence from
the poem.
Review HOTS Questions
1. Re-read lines 21-26 and 32-36 of the poem. What is the speaker’s perspective on the
wall?
2. Towards the end of the poem, the speaker describes his neighbor: “He moves in darkness
as it seems to me,/Not of woods only and the shade of trees…” (lines 41-42) In your own
words, what is the speaker’s perspective on his neighbor?
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3. Re-read lines 27 and lines 42-45 of the poem. What is the neighbor’s perspective on the
wall?
4. What is your perspective of the speaker and of his neighbor? With whom do you agree
and why?
5. What is the symbolic meaning of the wall? In other words, what might the wall
represent?
6. Considering the symbolic meaning of the wall, explain the meaning of the neighbor’s
repeated phrase, “Good fences make good neighbors”.
7. Considering the symbolic meaning of the wall, explain the speaker’s phrase, “Something
there is that doesn’t love a wall,/That wants it down.” (lines 35-36)
8. We live in Israel, a country with many complex fences and walls, both literal and
symbolic.
A. Describe the perspective, “good fences make good neighbors” in the context of Israel
today.
B. Describe the perspective, “something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it
down” in the context of Israel today.
9. What is the message of the poem?
10. What is the significance of the title of the poem?
11. The word “gaps” appears twice at the beginning of the poem. What is the literal
meaning of the word in the context of the poem? What other metaphorical gap or gaps are
there in the poem?
12. According to the speaker, the neighbor moves not just in physical but in metaphorical
“darkness”. What does the speaker mean? Explain.
Review for Bridging
Remember, there will be a 20-point bridging question at the end of the summative
assessment. This question will ask you to connect some background information or a
quotation to the poem. You will need to make a clear connection between the information or
quotation and the poem using 1-3 examples.
Here is an example of a bridging question:
(adapted from www.wikipedia.org):
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. He is highly
regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American
conversational speech. His work frequently used settings from rural life in New England in
the early twentieth century. He used these settings to examine complex social and
philosophical themes.
What is the connection between this information and the poem, “Mending Wall”? Be sure to
give 1-3 specific examples from the poem in your response.
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Summative Assessment
Part I: LOTS Questions (20 points)
1. The speaker gives two reasons for the stones falling down. What are those two reasons?
One possible reason is that stones fell down when the ground froze. Another reason is
that hunters knocked stones down while chasing animals.
2. When do the speaker and his neighbor repair the wall?
They repair the wall in the spring.
3. The speaker of the poem gives a reason not to repair the wall based on what he and his
neighbor are growing. What is the speaker’s reason?
The speaker has apple trees, and his neighbor has pine trees. The speaker says, “My
apple trees will never get across/And eat the cones under his pines…” (lines 25-26)
4. What is the neighbor’s motto?
The neighbor’s motto, repeated several times in the poem, is “Good fences make
good neighbors.”
Part II: HOTS Questions (60 points)
5. What is the symbolic meaning of the wall? (15 points)
The wall could represent the distance that human beings place between each other,
often for trivial reasons such as race, religion, or politics.
6A. What is the speaker’s opinion of the wall? What is the neighbor’s opinion of the wall?
(10 points)
The speaker says “we do not need the wall” (line 23) because he has an apple orchard
and the neighbor has pine trees. There is no need to separate the two orchards
because they do not need to keep farm animals on one side or the other.
The speaker also feels offended by the wall. He says, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to
know…to whom I was like to give offense.” (lines 32-34) He feels that it is hard to like
a wall, that the natural human instinct is to try to climb over a wall or to knock it
down.
By contrast, the neighbor feels that “good fences make good neighbors.” It’s
important to have a wall between neighboring properties even if there is nothing to
keep in or out.
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6B. Which thinking skill did you use to answer the previous question, and how did you use
it? (5 points)
I used the thinking skill “Distinguishing Different Perspectives”. I identified the
speaker’s perspective on the wall. Then, I identified the neighbor’s perspective on the
wall. In this way, I distinguished between the two different perspectives on the wall.
7. The word “gaps” appears twice at the beginning of the poem. What is the literal meaning
of the word in the context of the poem? What other metaphorical gap or gaps are there in
the poem? (15 points)
The literal meaning of the word “gaps” is breaks, openings, or holes. In the poem,
“gaps” refers to the holes in the wall that need to be repaired. Those are the literal
“gaps”. The metaphorical “gap” is the divide between the speaker and the neighbor.
There are “gaps” or differences in the way they look at the specific situation of the
wall. There are also “gaps” or differences in the way they each look at the world. The
speaker feels that walls separate people unnecessarily, whereas the neighbor feels
that walls set healthy boundaries.
8. What is the message of the poem? (15 points)
The message of the poem is to be sensitive and considerate of others. On the
surface, the two people in the poem are just repairing a wall. They haven’t fought.
They don’t appear to have a serious conflict. On a deeper level, though, there is a real
disagreement about whether or not the wall is needed. The speaker is offended by the
presence of the wall and feels that it’s a waste of time to have to repair it. Why not
let it fall down? Despite his anger and frustration, however, the speaker respects his
neighbor’s view and puts in the time and effort to help fix the wall year after year.
The speaker shows great sensitivity and consideration through these actions. The
neighbor remains “in darkness.” He is unable to reciprocate that level of sensitivity
and consideration because he does not realize that the speaker finds the wall
offensive. This poem teaches us to increase our sensitivity to and consideration of
others.
Bridging (20 points)
Robert Frost said, “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your
temper or your self-confidence.”
Connect this quote to the poem, “Mending Wall”. Remember to include an introduction,
examples, and a conclusion.
In the poem, the speaker listens to his neighbor’s saying, “good fences make good
neighbors.” He strongly disagrees with his neighbor and tries to persuade his
neighbor to consider why repairing the wall is necessary. At the end of the poem, the
speaker still disagrees with his neighbor. Nevertheless, the speaker still makes the
time to repair the wall. He respects his neighbor’s opinion while still holding fast to
his own opinion, “something there is that doesn’t love a wall…” In this way, the
speaker shows that he is educated according to Robert Frost’s definition. The speaker
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is able to listen to his neighbor’s motto without losing his temper. At the same time,
the speaker doesn’t give up on his own self-confidence or on his own opinion.
Additional Components for the Course:
Poetry Pouch
I would include the following ten items in a poetry pouch for “Mending Wall”. I would take
each item out and ask the students to make connections between the item and the poem.
1. a small sewing kit  The obvious connection is “mending”, like the title of the poem.
2. a small rock  Connections could include “stone[s]” and “boulders”.
3. a picture of a stone wall  This provides more context for the setting of the poem,
although it would be more appropriate to share such an image at the beginning of the unit.
4. a cow figurine  The poem says, “here there are no cows”, reminding us that the wall is
superfluous.
5. a small stuffed animal dog  The clearest connection is “the yelping dogs.”
6. an apple  The clearest connection is “I am apple orchard.”
7. a picture of people behind a wall or a fence  One connection is the opening line of the
poem.
8. a picture of people breaking down a wall such as the Berlin Wall  One connection is
“…that wants it [the wall] down.”
9. a picture of a handshake  This is a symbol (spiral of the literary term) for neighbors.
Another connection is the repeated line, “good fences make good neighbors.”
10. a drawing of an elf  The poem says, “…it isn’t elves exactly,” reminding us that the
wall is unnecessary from the speaker’s point of view.
Checklist for a Bad Literature Unit
The form is a locked form. I am unable to copy and paste it here. I am sending copies of
this document as well as of this checklist to Karen’s e-mail so that she will have a back-up
copy. I have also uploaded this checklist to the online course forum.
Comparison Chart for the Literature Units for Modules B vs. D
Component
Pre-reading
Similarities
Both sets of worksheets
concentrate on the same
theme of doing good
deeds
Differences
More emphasis in the threepoint worksheets on specific
vocabulary (good deeds and
count)
Use of a video clip and
emoticons in three-points
Comments
The three point worksheets
are more visually oriented
which is good for these
students.
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instead of only verbal cues and
a checklist in four points.
For 3 points, the students are
given the definitions of the
vocabulary words, either in
simpler English words or in L1.
For 4 points, the students must
look up the words themselves.
There are no Basic
Understanding questions for 3
points.
Basic Understanding
The second vocabulary
exercise is the same for
both units.
Analysis – explicit
HOTS
Both packets suggest using
video clips to introduce the
HOTS.
For 4 points, the HOTS is
Explaining Patterns. For 3
points, the HOTS is Cause and
Effect, which is perhaps more
straightforward.
Analysis – literary
terms
Metaphor is taught in both
packets, but in different
sections within the
Analysis section.
Simile and Rhyme Scheme are
also taught in the 4-points
packet but not in the 3-points
packet.
Analysis – application
of the HOTS
Both packets apply the
HOTS to the poem in very
clear, step-by-step
exercises.
The application of the HOTS to
the poem is much more
nuanced and complex in the 4points packet than in the 3points packet.
Analysis – other
questions
Question #2 in the 4-points
packet is the same as
question #1 in the 3-points
packet. There are very few
questions in both packets.
The questions in the 4-points
packet are more complex and
detailed than those in the 3points packet.
Bridging Text and
Context
Both packets ask students
to connect the photos to
the poem.
Post-reading
Both packets offer
students the opportunity
to do art only (Option #1)
without writing.
The 3-points packet includes
some numbered points of
background information before
the series of pictures. It also
includes discussion questions
at the end.
Only the 4-points packet offers
students the opportunity to do
an entirely oral presentation
(Option #3).
I’m surprised that the Basic
Understanding questions for 3
points do not ask the students
to generate any answers or
parts of answers on their own.
It’s definitely easier to match
lines from the poem to
modern English equivalents.
What about including Basic
Understanding Questions 1-2
from the 4-points packet to
the 3-points packet?
The drawing-an-emoticon
section is creative in the 3points packet. I’m not sure
how teenage boys (the
students at my school) would
react to doing this as part of
their Bagrut material. Would
they take it seriously? Would
they feel that it’s babyish? I’m
not sure.
I like how “metaphor” is
taught so concretely and
clearly in both packets, but
especially in the 3-points
packet.
Viewing both packets, I am
reminded of how much
thought and creativity must go
into planning literature units
in general and in particular
this section.
I am impressed by the level of
difficulty of the questions in
the 3-points packet. However,
at this point, the students are
well prepared to answer
them.
Why not also include the
discussion questions in the 4points packet?
I am impressed with the
creative range of options in
both packets.
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Summative
Assessment
Other:
Both the 3-points and 4points summative
assessments dedicate a lot
of time and points to LOTS
questions.
The HOTS section for the 3points section is much more
limited. The most that students
are expected to write is a
sentence or part of a sentence
per question.
I think that these summative
assessments are fair for both
levels.
I really appreciate seeing both
of these packets side by side.
It would be wonderful if the
Ministry could provide similar
resources for literature units
at all three levels. Thank you.
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