On Robert Frost

The Senate recently passed a bill to allow for the construction of a wall between the US and Mexico. I'm not really going to go into my personal feelings regarding this wall (except for one comment--if this wall is also about terrorism, then we need to build a wall on the Canadian border too). I am actually far more upset that a well-known Robert Frost poem is being used by some Republican senators as justification that a wall would improve relations with our neighbor to the south.

The poem is called Mending Wall. Alabama Republican senator Jeff Sessions quoted Frost after the vote, "Good fences make good neighbors." Little known fact--I have a degree in English, with an emphasis on American Literature and I've studied this Frost poem on quite a few occasions. The story is of two men, resurrecting a wall between their two properties on a Spring day. The speaker, Frost, is questioning the purpose of this wall, which is consistently debilitated by nature. The speaker wonders (as he is working with his neighbor to rebuild the wall), "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down." The speaker claims that there is no need for the wall, as their respective apple orchards and pine trees don't mix. Additionally, neither has pets that they'd want to confine to their property. The neighbor reiterates, "Good fences make good neighbors" as Frost is left wondering if that's true.

So, all you senators who voted to approve this bill, please do not use Frost's line. If you had read the poem you'd see that he clearly wouldn't support your measure.