Fences, Boundaries and Borders

A boundary marks the limit of an area. A fence is a physical structure that can mark such a limit, restrict passage or separate one space from another. A border identifies an edge or division and need not take the form of a visible barrier.

These distinctions allow different situations to be described precisely. A line may be marked but easy to cross. A fence may prevent crossing while allowing a clear view of the other side. A hedge can obscure both the route through it and what lies beyond it.

Types and Characteristics

• Rail fences: Use horizontal members between posts, leaving spaces through which the other side can be seen.
• Palisades: Use closely positioned upright stakes or posts to create a barrier.
• Wire fences: Vary in their spacing, flexibility and ability to restrict movement.
• Hedges: Form living boundaries whose density and height change through growth and maintenance.
• Walls: Provide a solid division, sometimes with gates or other openings.
• Marked lines: Identify a division without necessarily obstructing movement across it.

The two sides of a boundary may be described differently by the people using them. What one person experiences as protection can be experienced by someone else as exclusion. This is an observation about position and perspective, rather than a fixed interpretation of every fence image.

Literary Examples

Robert Frost's Mending Wall describes two neighbours repairing the boundary between their properties. The speaker questions the need for a wall in their particular setting, while the neighbour repeats a saying in favour of fences. The poem also shows them undertaking a shared activity while remaining on opposite sides of the structure. Robert Frost: Mending Wall

The wall therefore provides both the division between the neighbours and the occasion for their meeting. Reading the poem as a simple endorsement or rejection of boundaries misses that tension.

Boundary and Crossing

A gate introduces a permitted opening into an otherwise continuous fence. A stile supplies a way over a barrier without removing it. A gap may allow passage even when no formal crossing was intended.

Descriptions of boundaries can therefore distinguish the existence of a limit from the means of crossing it. A person may also remain close to a boundary, walk along it or move away from it without changing sides.

Idioms

• Sit on the fence: Avoid committing to one side of a disagreement or choice.
• Mend fences: Repair a damaged relationship.
• Cross the line: Go beyond an accepted limit of behaviour.
• Draw the line: Establish a limit on what one will accept or do.
• Overstep the mark: Exceed an acceptable boundary.
• On the other side of the fence: In a different position, group or set of circumstances.
• The grass is always greener on the other side: Other circumstances can appear more attractive than one's own.
• Hemmed in: Restricted by surroundings, obstacles or circumstances.
• Out of bounds: Outside the area or subject matter that is permitted.

Homophones

Pale / pail: A pale can be a pointed stake used in fencing. A pail is a bucket. The fencing sense of pale belongs to the vocabulary of enclosure. Merriam-Webster: Pale

Related Pages

Brick Walls, Fields, Containers, Situational Relational Positioning.

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