Robert Frost Poem Robert Frost's

Robert Frost Poem Robert Frost's poem "The Death of the Hired Man" tells the story of Silas, an elderly farmhand, who has return to his former employers homestead. It consists of a dialogue between Mary and Warren with some narration to provide the context and setting of the conversation. Frost purpose of this poem is to explore the many assumption we make about our friends, family and acquaintances. At the beginning of the poem, Mary feels she must tell Warren of Silas' presence before he enters the house.

The conversation takes place on the house's porch. Indoors, Silas is asleep in a sharp-edged chair-back. It is immediately clear that Warren dislikes Silas and wants him to leave. Warren feels Silas is undependable, he had left during the haying season when labor is scare and now he returns during the winter when there is no work to be done.

Through Mary's story, we are led to believe that Silas has never felt respect: Warren would not pay Silas a fixed wage for his work so Silas didn't have to beg or be beholden, a young boy, Harold Wilson, working with Silas in the fields looked down on him because of his lack of education and Silas was estranged from his rich businessman brother. Warren, however, did complement Silas on his ability to bundle hay.

Mary thinks if Silas had been able to teach Harold how to bundle and load hay that Silas would have felt as if he'd be some good perhaps to someone in the world. Mary sees Silas as a lonely old man with nothing in the world to call his own -- no home, no family and no money. She states that he has noting to look backward to with pride and nothing to look forward to with hope.

Mary claims that Silas has no reason to live and describes him as a broken man. She feels his soul has died from an unfulfilled need for dignity. She says He never did a thing so very bad. He don't know why he isn't quite as good as anyone. He won't be made ashamed. Mary leads the reader to believe that Silas not only sought respect from others but he was searching for respect for himself. Warren and Marry are unsure as to why Silas has returned.

The last time either had seen Silas was when Warren kicked him off the farm during haying time. It is unknown why Silas has returned; Silas was unable to speak when Mary found him on the barn's doorstep. Mary and Warren's conversation is not based on facts only conjecture. The reader can only know Silas though the thoughts and opinions of Mary and Warren.

As the poem progresses Mary begins to believe that he [Silas] has come home to die: you needn't be afraid he'll leave you this time, Mary states the home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Both Mary and Warren are thinking that Silas thought of them as family and their land as his home.

Warren mocks her when she said Silas has come home and she responses with Yes, what else but home? It all depends on what you mean by home. Of course he's nothing to us, any more than was the hound that came a stranger to us out of the woods, worn out upon the trail. Mary's statement suggests that she think that Silas has been worn out by life and that he arrived on their farm tatter and broken.

Through out the poem Mary has expressed sympathy and empathy for Silas. Her whole purpose for meeting Warren at the door is to ask him to be kind to Silas. She observes that Silas a miserable sight, even frightening. He is mumbling in his sleep and appears troubled by the days when he was working with Harold. Mary state I sympathise. I know just how it feels. Warren's feelings begin to soften at this point.

He asks Mary if she believes that Silas has better claim on us you think than on his brother? Frost elicits great sympathy from the reader. I felt the Silas' shame. I felt Mary's concern for another human being. I understood Warren's frustration with Silas. The poem is a wish that Silas had had a better life; one filled with respect, an education, steady work and loved ones. When Warren slipped to her side, caught up her hand and waited, I felt their vulnerability, their gratitude for being.