The Death of the Hired Man" (1914) Robert Frost:

Theme :

Several themes are touched upon by Frost in this poem including family, power, justice, mercy, age, death, friendship, redemption, guilt and belonging. A major theme in the poem is that of the ‘home’ or homecoming and self-respect ..

Summery : 


A farm wife, Mary pleads with her husband, Warren, talking about what to do with an ex-employee named Silas, who has returned the farm again who helped with haymaking .
Warren thinks him a lazy and useless worker .Who has always disappointed him. 
Warren is displeased with him during his return and wants him to leave.

The farmhand, Silas, is very ill, and Mary is convinced that he has returned to the farm to die. Warren has not seen Silas in his ill state and, still angry over the contract that Silas broke when them in the past, does not want to have Silas on his property. 
Mary’s compassionate urging eventually convinces him, but when Warren goes to get Silas, he is already dead.
  



Analysis
The Death of the Hired Man" is a dramatic narrative poem .It narrates  the death of an old servant in the house of his master,Warren.

In a sense the work is like a classical drama .The poem written in Blank verse seems to be fit instrument for the subject and theme of the poem . 

The poem describes the rural environment, the everyday struggle of the farm couple over their relationship to the farmhand. The blank verse form makes the text extremely clear.The Most obvious quality of Frost's poetry is simplicity of thought and clarity of expression . 

Warren and his wife Mary have sharply divided their opinions on the old servant ,and their attitudes to him are opposite .It shows the humane considerations of Mary , and the curl feelings and unkind considerations of Warren for there old servant Silas who comes back to their farm after quite a long time in a very weak condition of health ,and dies there within a short time after arrival .Mary follows the model of Christian forgiveness that expects her to help Silas because he needs it, not because he deserves it. Warren, on the other hand, does not believe that they owe anything to Silas and feels that they are not bound to help him.

Frost outlines the traditions of duty and hard work that he explores in many of his other poems. Silas returns to the farm so that he can fulfill his broken contract to Warren and die honorably, having fulfilled his duty to the family and to the community. Silas’ return to the farm also signals the importance of the work that he performed on the farm as a way to give his life meaning and satisfaction. 
Silas does not have any children or close family to provide a sense of fulfillment in his last hours; only the sense of duty and the satisfaction of hard work can provide him with comfort.

It is an important point for the reader to notice that Frost has very skilfully differentiated between the two speakers ,and has revealed their character through their speech rhythms and choice of language .

The quarrel of the man and wife over the death of the hired man symbolizes the drama of man's justice and woman's mercy set against the value of the dignity of the man .Frost poetry is very much akin to that of Wordsworth.Frost has used his poetic devices successfully in the poem ...

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Explanations

Surely you wouldn't grudge the poor old man
some humble way to save his self -respect 


Silas was the servant of warren .He was old and almost of no use .Still warren wanted him to stay with him and do this work ,though he could not pay him a salary that Silas wanted .Moreover ,he left Warren when he was most needed by him for work on the farm .But Silas left him in search of higher pay from somebody else .
Warren was ,therefore annoyed with him .When Silas came back one day without any notice  ,Warren's wife Mary took kindly to him .Warren might show him anger ,and drive him away .So she began to plead for Silas as soon as he came back from the market.
Mary told him to be kind to Silas who was asleep beside the stove near them .
She said she dragged him to the house ,gave him tea and tired to make him smoke she also tired to make him talk about his travel ,but he says nothing .
When Warren asked her wife if he said he had come to ditch the meadow for him in answer Mary said that he did say in the sense that ,by keeping silent he wanted to save his self-respect in his own humble way .
Moreover ,he meant to clear up the pasture too .Through these lines ,we can have glimpse into the character of Silas .He was not as young and actives as someone might expect a servant to be .He wanted the minimum wage from his master Warren ,but he was refused even that .
Then he went away sometime and came back to his master .But he kept silent to all the questions that were put to him by Marry .That was how he wanted to save his self respect