Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

Hello:

Now, does
"like an old-stone savage armed"
mean
"armed like an old-stone savage"
or
"like an old-stone armed savage?"

Also, does:
"He will not go behind his father's saying"
mean
"He will not look for a hidden meaning in his father's saying"
or:
"He will not disrespect/avoid his father's saying?"

---
MENDING WALL

...

I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

...

He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Robert Frost, p. 33
http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html
---
Thanks.
Marius Hancu