Themes In Robert Frost's The Death Of The Hired Man

1407 Words3 Pages

Robert Frost is a great author who wrote many poems that hold much meaning. Poems such as a “The Road Not Taken” and “Fire and Ice” are just two examples of his literary works. In his poem, The Death of the Hired Man, he displays many themes. Themes such as holding a grudge or home is where you belong. One of the strongest themes that he beholds in his story is life is short, and should be lived to its fullest potential. Robert Frost displays this theme through the characters, and symbolism throughout the story. Characters play a major role in developing the theme of The Death of the Hired Man. Warren holds a grudge throughout the story, finding it difficult to accept Silas, an old friend back into his life. He argues with his wife that Silas …show more content…

When the moon came into the night, Mary confessed that Silas came home to die. The moon coming over the sky symbolizes that death was coming over Silas and his time was out. Later when Warren went inside and Mary was waiting to see if a cloud would hit the moon. It showed that all of those chances that Silas had to achieve his goals in life are over. The cloud achieve its goal of hitting the moon and dimming the moon’s light showing that death was upon Silas. After that three clouds were blocking the moon showing that people can use help to achieve goals. In the end, they all had made mistakes which ended the short …show more content…

Silas’ life was lived in the wrong way. He was earned money to buy tobacco, ditched his friend when he was in times of need, and was disowned by his family members. His life was hard and when he tried to fix it, everything was too late. He tried to make things right with his old friend Warren and when Warren tried to go and talk to him, he was dead. This symbolizes that Silas should have tried sooner rather than later because he was already on his death bed when he had any chance to make things right. If he would have realized that his life was shorter than expected he might have tried to help out more and lived life to the fullest. The tragedy also shows that Warren shouldn’t have argued so long with his wife Mary. If Warren would have gone to talk to Silas right as he had gotten home, he would have seen the state he was in and could have discussed his past with him. Even if Silas couldn’t have talked he could have spoken a few last words to him before he

Open Document