Robert Frost's Themes Of Isolation, Extinction, And Limitations Of Man

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is isolation. The persona ponders at the fact why man can not live without walls, boundaries, limits and particularly self-limitations. “There where it is/ We do not need a wall”. Isolation of the individual links to our desire for barriers and boundaries as a form of separation from other people. We find in “Mending Wall” the desire of a rural farmer to mend a wall every spring between him and the persona “And set the wall between us as we go”. The persona in this poem interrogates his neighbour as to the necessity of the wall “What I was walling in or walling out” thus questioning his desire for isolation. Primitive as the neighbour is, the only answer he could give to this interrogation is a cliché “Good fences make good neighbours”. Isolation, through the use of barriers helps insure a comfort zone that is beneficial for both parties. However, the persona in this poem does not understand why it is beneficial and thus raising the issue of the necessity of the wall “Why do they ...

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and non-preaching manner.
“Fire and Ice” gives us two possibility of how we can lead to out own extinction through the extremities of our emotions that we can not suppress or control. Fire and ice are the extremes of two destructive forces. Fire symbolises passion and desire, however excessive passion leads to jealousy. When we are too consumed with passion, our emotions take over and this will lead to suffering as we may neglect other factors in our life that are just as important. “From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold those who favour fire”. Opposing to fire is ice, ice symbolise coldness and hatred. Similar to ice, excessive hate can lead to drastic outcomes as people let hate ...

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