Fence - Cultural Value of Fences

Cultural Value of Fences

The value of fences and the metaphorical significance of a fence, both positive and negative, has been extensively utilized throughout western culture. A few examples include:

• "Good fences make good neighbors." - Robert Frost
• "A good neighbour is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn't climb over it." - Arthur Baer
• "There is something about jumping a horse over a fence, something that makes you feel good. Perhaps it's the risk, the gamble. In any event it's a thing I need." - William Faulkner
• "Fear is the highest fence." - Dudley Nichols
• "To be fenced in is to be withheld." - Kurt Tippett
• "What have they done to the earth?/ What have they done to our fair sister?/ Ravaged and plundered/ and ripped her/ and bit her/ stuck her with knives/ in the side of the dawn/ and tied her with fences/ and dragged her down." - Jim Morrison, of The Doors
• "Don't Fence Me In" - Cole Porter
• "You shall build a turtle fence." - Peter Hoekstra
• "A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view." - Marilyn Monroe