Robert Frost’s Poetry — Quiz Answers

Which lines from "Mending Wall" best indicate that the speaker is amused while repairing the wall?

Read the excerpt from "Mending Wall." Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: " Why do they make good neighbours? 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 offence. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down." Now read “The Pasture,” also by Robert Frost. I’m going out to clean the pasture spring; I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): I shan’t be gone long.—You come too. I’m going out to fetch the little calf That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young, It totters when she licks it with her tongue. I shan’t be gone long.—You come too. Which best accounts for the different views of spring expressed in the poems?

Read the excerpt from "Mending Wall." 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 neighbours." Based on the excerpt, what does the speaker think of his neighbor?

Read the excerpt from "Mending Wall," by Robert Frost. 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. What is Frost describing that “doesn’t love a wall”?

Read the excerpt from "Mending 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 neighbours." Based on the excerpt, what does the speaker most likely think about the wall?

Why does the neighbor say that “good fences make good neighbours” in "Mending Wall"?

Read the excerpt from "Mending Wall." 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 out-door 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. What feature of this excerpt makes it blank verse?

Who is the speaker of the "Mending Wall"?

Read the excerpt from "Mending Wall." I let my neighbour 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 out-door 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. What does the phrase “one on a side” mean?

Read the poem "On Virtue," by Phyllis Wheatley. O thou bright jewel in my aim I strive To comprehend thee. Thine own words declare Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach. I cease to wonder, and no more attempt Thine height t’explore, or fathom thy profound. But, O my soul, sink not into despair, Virtue is near thee, and with gentle hand Would now embrace thee, hovers o’er thine head. Fain would the heaven-born soul with her converse, Then seek, then court her for her promised bliss. Auspicious queen, thine heavenly pinions spread, And lead celestial Chastity along; Lo! now her sacred retinue descends, Arrayed in glory from the orbs above. Attend me, Virtue , thro’ my youthful years! O leave me not to the false joys of time! But guide my steps to endless life and bliss. Greatness , or Goodness , say what I shall call thee, To give an higher appellation still, Teach me a better strain, a nobler lay, O Thou, enthroned with Cherubs in the realms of day! What is the main similarity between “On Virtue” and Frost’s poem "Mending Wall"?