Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.15291/sic/2.15.lc.1

Architexture Of “Walling In And Walling Out” in Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”

I. Murat Öner

Abstract

Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” explores the complexities of boundaries, both physical and metaphorical, through the annual ritual of two neighbors who meet and mend a stone wall. Drawing on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s geophilosophical concepts, this “architextural” essay analyzes the poem as a dynamic interplay between the war machine –represented by the questioning narrator – and the State apparatus, embodied by the tradition-bound neighbor. The wall serves as a One-Two structure, simultaneously a limes and a limen, by reflecting the tension between striating and smoothing forces. While the neighbor upholds the stratified order with the maxim “Good fences make good neighbors,” the narrator challenges this equilibrium through a willingness to transgress and a pursuit of deterritorializing freedom. With this perspective, the poem offers a profound reflection on the paradox of boundaries, which are both divisive and unifying forces. “Mending Wall” also offers unique geophilosophical insights into the enduring human struggle between the mechanisms of control and tradition, and the transformative potentials of liberation and change.

Keywords

Robert Frost, “Mending Wall,” geocriticism, geophilosophy, architexture, striation, the war machine, non-equilibrium, limes, limen

Hrčak ID:

335093

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/335093

Publication date:

1.6.2025.

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