There’s a phrase that goes “good fences make good neighbours” and I hate the phrase.
I agree. Also, it’s trivia time! That phrase came into common usage from Mending Wall by Robert Frost. A character in the poem keeps repeating it while repairing his stone fence. The narrator clearly disagrees, and wonders why people are driven to create fences that are unnecessary or counterproductive. People who use “good fences make good neighbors” as a truism need to read the poem.
Frost had a history of subverting the literal lines in his poems. For example, there are several lines in The Road Not Taken that directly contradict the conclusion of “And that has made all the difference”, yet no one really reads the entire poem these days.
I agree. Also, it’s trivia time! That phrase came into common usage from Mending Wall by Robert Frost. A character in the poem keeps repeating it while repairing his stone fence. The narrator clearly disagrees, and wonders why people are driven to create fences that are unnecessary or counterproductive. People who use “good fences make good neighbors” as a truism need to read the poem.
Nice poem! Do you think Robert Frost coined the phrase in the poem, or was it something he heard somewhere that he figured he’d skewer with the poem?
Frost had a history of subverting the literal lines in his poems. For example, there are several lines in The Road Not Taken that directly contradict the conclusion of “And that has made all the difference”, yet no one really reads the entire poem these days.
I don’t know. I assume he heard it among the farmers in New Hampshire where he lived, but that’s a total guess on my part.
It sounds like frost didn’t come up with the phrase - that It already existed at the time of the poem. I wonder how long it was in use for.
They also usually make pretty terrible neighbors.