Mending Wall Tradition and Customs Quotes

This broken wall thing happens like clockwork. Every spring, the speaker realizes that the wall needs mending. Why spring? Is this because the speaker doesn’t really get out much in the cold New England winter, and, so, the first time he’s able to inspect the wall is when the weather gets nicer? If this is your wall, would you put up with needing to mend it every spring, or would you take some preventative measures to try to keep it intact?

Does this mean that there is a hill between our speaker’s property and his neighbor’s house? In that case, between the wall and the hill there are two barriers. As part of the annual mending wall custom, we think it’s downright fascinating that the speaker is the one who starts up the "Hey, neighbor, let’s go mend that wall" conversation. But, he doesn’t like the wall, right? Or, maybe he does like the wall? Perhaps, he likes the opportunity to hang out with someone else every year, even if they are on separate sides of the wall?

This neighbor is one quiet dude. We think it’s a little creepy that the only thing he says for himself (ever) is this proverb. Not only that, but it’s not a proverb that he stumbles upon himself – his father passes it down to him. We have a very hard time visualizing this neighbor because he only speaks in clichéd, proverb form. He seems like a very generalize-able man, as compared with our mischievous speaker.