Metaphor in "Scaffolding" and "Mending Wall Seamus Heaney's "Scaffolding" and Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" use walls as a metaphor of relationships however have different overall themes. Heaney uses "scaffolding" to exemplify the foundation relationships are built on whereas Frost uses a wall as an object of division between forward thinking, open-minded individuals and ignorant habitual sheep. Seamus Heaney uses his poem "Scaffolding" to show the development and evolution of relationships. "Masons, when they start upon …showed first 75 words of 391 total…

…showed last 75 words of 391 total…notion in his neighbor's head to challenge tradition. He questions his neighbor, "'Why do they make good neighbors?'" but "He moves in darkness as it seems to me~ / Not of woods only and the shade of trees." the neighbor is too ignorant and barred by tradition to even question his fathers saying therefore he will continue to mend the wall every spring simply because he lacks the presence of mind to challenge its purpose.