Robert Frost - Mending Wall

Designed to accompany the CIE Robert Frost poetry anthology for AS English, but will be appropriate for any senior study of the poem Mending Wall.
This lesson (intended to be taught over two periods, though can be condensed into one) introduces students to the connotations of walls using a word association activity. It then encourages students to predict Frost’s attitude to walls light of existing knowledge and consider the questions raised by two key quotations in the poem. The main part of the lesson focuses on analysis of the title, suggesting useful vocabulary and appropriate language techniques necessary for studying the poem, identifies the speaker and situation, sets comprehension questions and prompts students to consider the contrasting ideas presented in the poem and what their purpose is.
After a short starter activity around Frost’s idea of “discovery” through poetry and a video recap of the poem, the second lesson then moves on to close analysis of Mending Wall, encouraging students to demonstrate their learning through a summary of Frost’s message/s and an evaluation of relevant contextual knowledge.
A blank and annotated copy of the poem are also included with this resource.