TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
In this week’s issue:
Reader’s Feedback
(1) More on the Mending Wall, Jonathon Holder
Editors’ Notes
(2) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
READER’S FEEDBACK
(1) More on the Mending Wall
From Jonathon Holder, United Kingdom
I’m writing down some of the conclusions I have drawn from my
further
investigation into the cloud that Mike
Round has identified in the poem
“Mending Wall.” I had not previously thought
about the possibility of using
T.O.C. in analysing poetry, and so I would firstly like to thank
Mike for
drawing this avenue of opportunity
to my attention.
The most obvious cloud in the poem is:
D: remove the wall
D’: keep the wall
B-D: save the energy
C-D’: be good neighbours as tradition demands
There are, however, other interpretations of this particular
problem (D-D’).
The neighbour walks in darkness “like an old-stone savage armed.” The
neighbour is a stranger to him. The
darkness prevents the neighbour from
being seen clearly. This darkness
is not literal darkness: it is darkness
within the mind of the narrator of
the poem. It is the darkness of the
narrator’s lack of knowledge,
understanding and trust for this neighbour.
The man is separated from him by a wall, and this means that he is
not a
threat. So could this mean that the
need for leaving the wall up, and even
expending energy on maintaining it, is
to protect himself from the unknown,
the shadowy neighbour? In this
case, the need for allowing the wall to
crumble would be to stop the
separation of him and his neighbour, to create
trust and understanding and to
shed light on the unknown. The need for
maintaining the wall would be to feel
safe from this neighbour, to remain
distant, as the unknown may be dangerous.
The cloud would then look like this:
D: remove the wall
D’: keep the wall
B-D: embrace the neighbour’s existence, rather than wall him out
C-D’: stay safe
The poet is not suggesting a fully formed cloud; he is instead
describing a
problem. He has omitted one thing
that is essential in any cloud: nowhere in
the poem does frost suggest a
goal. In saying that he would like the wall
down, but would rather the
neighbour “said it for himself,” he expresses a
desire for an injection to break
D’, not a goal. So what is the goal in this
cloud? The reason he must embrace
his neighbour’s existence could be that
he does not want to be isolated
from the fellow people that surround him.
The reason that he wants to stay safe is to continue living
without fear. So
what can the common goal that
requires both needs be? To discover this it
might be helpful to apply the same
cloud to a different problem with a
clearer goal:
In Israel/Palestine, both sides want peace. The Israelis are
currently
building a wall around part of the
Gaza Strip. They are building the wall in
order to ensure the safety of
Israeli citizens from terrorism. Many believe
that the building of the wall is
wrong because it will further distance the
Israelis and Palestinians from each other. In this case the common goal is
clear. And so the cloud here looks
like this:
D: remove the wall
D’: keep the wall
B-D: embrace the neighbour’s existence, rather than wall them out
C-D’: stay safe
A: peace
In his mind the narrator of the poem is at war with his neighbour.
This
unknown entity is automatically an
enemy until proven otherwise, an “oldstone
savage armed.” This cloud that
Frost suggests, is therefore one of
the most powerful clouds ever
written. It applies to nearly any war. In
order to have peace you must embrace
your enemy, but you must also remain
safe. In order to embrace your
enemy you must break down barriers
between you, whether they be
physical barriers, mental barriers, sanctions,
religious/cultural misunderstanding, or any
other form of barriers.
However, in order to remain safe you must build up barriers
between you and
your enemy, including physical
and diplomatic walls. The cloud is also
especially honest as nearly all wars
are called by blind hatred,
misunderstanding or a lack of knowledge, all three
of which are referred to
in this poem.
This cloud does not apply exclusively to war. Perhaps the most
interesting
application of this cloud that Frost
suggests is that it is subtly hinted, when
he is describing the shady
neighbour, the old-stone savage, that the person
he is walling out is in fact
himself. He is walling out his primal instinct, his
human nature. He has apple
orchards in favour of a pine forest, and wishes
to remain separate from his own
wild side for his own protection, even whilst
wishing that his instinct would
decide that there was no need for a wall. In
order to be at peace with himself,
Frost must accept his primal nature. In
order to accept his primal nature,
Frost must break down the mental walls
between his instinct and his conscience.
In order to be at peace with
himself, Frost must know that he is
a civilised modern human being. In order
to know that he is a civilised
human being, Frost must wall out his primal
instincts. So the cloud looks like
this:
D: allow his instincts to affect his conscience
D’: wall his instincts out
B-D: accept his primal instincts
C-D’: feel like a civilized, modern person
A: be at peace with himself peace
EDITORS’ NOTES
(2) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
Mike Round (and for that matter, good old Robert Frost) are
probably
scratching their heads and saying,
“Whoa—who’d have thought…” The various
life connections that are
possible from the study of literature are amazing.
Jonathon Holder, thanks for sharing your
brilliant response. And, Mike
Round thanks for igniting a spark—hey, we’ve been able to cover 4
issues of
TACTics just because you decided to share your mystification of
poetry
with us!
Which brings us to you, our TOCFE family—feel free to share with
us! Send
your responses, applications of the
thinking processes, lessons,
announcements, and etc. by mail to: Cheryl
A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill Island
Rd.,
cedwards@cedarville.net or bucknek@earthlink.net.
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