Question

Read the excerpt from Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall." He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours." Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: "Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him, But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather He said it for himself. I see him there Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father’s saying, And he like having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours." What does the word grasped connote in this poem?
A. that the man is determined to protect himself
B. that the man knows how to build a wall
C. that the man can pick up big rocks
D. that the man is going to attack the speaker

Answer 1

The right option is A. The man is skeptical about fences making good neighbors if their nature is to separate or confine things and beings. The man seems not t know the reason why walls make a good thing and attempts to mention Elves, mithological beings or fictional, to give an explanation. The word "grasped" connotes the idea of holding the stones within his hand for protection.

Answer 2

Best answer possible is A). The word ''grasped'' in this sentence makes focus on the man's determination to TAKE the stone in his hands.