Elisa New at Along These Lines:
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
This week our America 250 history series continues with Poetry in America’s episode on Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall,” featuring the distinguished former Ambassador to Japan and Australia Caroline Kennedy; the late former White House adviser David Gergen; former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith; writers Rhina Espaillat and Julia Alvarez; and poet, novelist, and Frost biographer Jay Parini.
Telling the deceptively simple story of a regularly scheduled meeting between neighbors to repair the stone wall dividing their properties, Robert Frost’s poem offers, at the same time, a parable of social cohesion and its preservation—and a primer on disagreement, dissent—and disruption—in democratic society.
Indeed, via this unlikely vehicle of a 112-year-old poem, Robert Frost explains the upcoming 2026 midterms to you—and explains them in terms you can apply, henceforth, to every other political contest you observe.
More here.
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