“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost is about how everyone needs a barrier. Without one, people would be vulnerable and easy to target, easy to hurt. Then there's "Fire and Ice," also by Robert Frost. It's about the two topics of how the world could end. Either it will be full of flames and everyone will burn, or it will freeze. The theme of “Mending Wall” is that nature is powerful. The same could also be said for “Fire and Ice”. The author has built the theme of nature in each of these poems using images and symbols. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Imagery is the use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas (The Free Dictionary). In “Mending Wall” there are many examples of images. One of them is “We wear our fingers hard in handling them.” The speaker is building with his hands and is saying how tired and beat up his hands will be from working so hard. Images are used to paint the reader a picture and tell a story. What stands out is when Frost writes, “There's something that doesn't like a wall.” This stands out because it is repeated again in the poem, and it is also the first line. When a line, word or phrase is repeated, it must be examined carefully because it will most likely have some importance. It can be taken away that nature is the one that doesn't like the wall because every spring the speaker and his neighbor have to rebuild the wall because it collapsed to the ground. If nature wanted it there, they wouldn't have to keep constantly rebuilding it every year. It would simply remain standing. The use of imagery in this poem is really important because it makes the reader see exactly what is happening as they read the poem. You can see the “loaves” and the stone wall being built in your mind. You can see the speaker casting a spell on the stone to make it stay, and the speaker laughing alone as the neighbor doesn't laugh at his humor. In "Fire and Ice", there is also the use of imagery. “Some say the world will end in fire,” is an example. The images are used to really make the reader think and leave them wondering how the world will really end. Will it end in fire or ice? At the beginning, the speaker says he agrees with the fire side, but by the end of the poem he realizes that ice can be just as harmful. Freezing and burning are two very unpleasant things and it is difficult to choose one over the other. Imagery is important in this poem because when the words "Some say the world will end in fire" appear, the reader is forced to see a world of flame in his or her mind. It's horrendous. When he says “Some say in the ice,” you see an ice age. You see a world frozen and still. Symbol is something that represents something else by association, representation, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. (The free dictionary). In “Mending Wall,” one of the symbols are fences. In the poem, the phrase “Good fences make good neighbors” is repeated several times. Fences are the symbol of that barrier that everyone has around them. No one wants to be completely exposed. When something can hide who someone really is, they will feel more comfortable because there is something in front of them that hides who they really are or whatever they don't want everyone to see. Without that barrier, people would be left defenseless. Everyone needs some kind of armor, even if it's invisible to the naked eye. In "Fire and Ice", the symbol is ice. "Some say in the ice" not.