The Duke and the King
There once was a duke and a king. The king lived in a beautiful castle and the duke in a handsome mansion on the land next to the king. For years the duke and the king had fought over building a fence between their properties. The king wanted the privacy and the security that the wall would provide, while the duke did not want to lose his land for the king's fence. One day the duke and the king sat down and began to discuss the issues of the fence. This so-called discussion turned out to be raised voices and flying fist that ended with the two gentleman becoming friends. The two men learning how wonderful it is to have good neighbors vowed to never build a barrier between their properties and lose sight of their good friendship. This invented story is similar to Robert Frost's poem, "Mending Wall."
Mending Wall (album)
Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken", 1874 - 1963
English: Official portrait of Dana Gioia, from the...In both, the two main characters come to know each other because of a wall. However, the wall brings the two neighbors in the poem further apart than closer, acting as a barrier between the men every becoming better acquainted.
The two men are neighbors but are they good neighbors? A good neighbor is respectful to other neighbors and their property. A good neighbor is kind, courteous, quiet, and friendly. The speaker and the neighbor in the poem both seem to be good neighbors. They are only neighbors though; the wall acts like a barrier that they never seem to cross. "We keep the wall between us as we go.", is a line from Frost's "Mending Wall" showing how even when they are out mending the wall they still keep it between them. If they were to demolish the wall and stop following tradition there would...