Robert Frost: "Mending Wall"

We have all heard the saying "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors." My dad quotes it yearly every time we go to harvest the hay field that boarders our neighbors property. So I find it extremely interesting that Frost seems to be challenging this firmly held belief rather then conform to it. The narrater of the poem asks "why do they make good neighbors?" He proceeds to wonder about the purpose of a fence, specifically a fence between apple trees and pines. He questions what is being kept in/out. I find this extremely interesting. The fence between my dad's hay field and the neighbor was built to keep the neighbor from accidentally crossing the property line with his hay cutter. In a way, the fence was built to avoid any possible conflict that could result from forgetting the "fence." Frost, I believe, understands this. He knows the fence somehow makes his neighbor feel safe. The fence contains what is theirs.