A Fence
A Fence - meaning Summary
Exclusion and Social Barriers
The poem describes a newly built iron fence surrounding a lakefront stone house and uses that physical barrier to comment on social exclusion. The pointed palings are praised as a ‘‘masterpiece’’ because they will keep out the poor, vagabonds, and children seeking play. The final line implies that only impersonal forces—Death, Rain, and To-morrow—can pass through, highlighting isolation and the limits of protection.
Read Complete AnalysesNow the stone house on the lake front is finished and the workmen are beginning the fence. The palings are made of iron bars with steel points that can stab the life out of any man who falls on them. As a fence, it is a masterpiece, and will shut off the rabble and all vagabonds and hungry men and all wandering children looking for a place to play. Passing through the bars and over the steel points will go nothing except Death and the Rain and To-morrow.
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