tells them that he wants to work for them again. Mary, who has talked to Silas thinks he has really come back order to have a place to die. Warren, on the other hand, believes that Silas has shown himself to be so undependable that they really own him nothing. Mary is seen as representing mercy and Warren represents Justice. In a long conversation, both Warren and Mary argue about what they should do about Silas. Warren believes that he owes Silas nothing because he has done nothing to deserve it. Mary believes that it doesn't matter what Silas has done in the past, he at least deserves to be taken care of because he cannot take care of himself. She tells her husband, "Be kind." Warren argues that he has been kind but " off he goes always when I need him the most." The discussion continues until Warren finally gives in a little. Ironically, just as Warren has accepted caring for Silas, he discovers the man has already died.

One important theme of Robert Frost’s poem “Death of the Hired Man” – the theme of mutability, or change – is suggested by the very title of the work.  The word “Death,” of course, suggests the ultimate and most unsettling kind of change, while the phrase “Hired Man” suggests a man whose job, earnings, and social status are unstable. Anyone who has been hired can easily be fired, and indeed the question of whether or not the once-hired man should be rehired is one of the chief issues the poem’s two main characters discuss.  This poem would be off to an altogether different kind of start if it were titled “Death of the Tenured Professor.”

Mutability is already implied as a significant theme at the very beginning of the poem. Mary is waiting for her husband’s return (a kind of change), and Silas has already returned (another kind of change). A main focus of the poem’s plot emerges after Mary urges Warren to be kind to Silas, and then Warren replies,

“When was I ever anything but kind to him?

But I’ll not have the fellow back” . . . . (11-12)

Here again the issue of change or mutability is implied: Mary thinks Warren has changed, and so she wants to change his attitudes and behavior in a different way.  In fact, she wants to reverse the change that has taken place in him. Warren, however, protests that his attitudes toward Silas have never changed, even though he seems to believe that Silas himself has changed in unappealing ways. Apparently Silas had quit the job Warren had once given him (yet another kind of change), and in fact Warren insists that he had warned Silas not to make such a change, or he would in turn have to change his treatment of Silas: “‘If he left then,’” I said, ‘that ended it’” (14). Warren then alludes to another kind of change – the fact that Silas has aged:

Who else will harbor him

At his age for the little he can do? (15-16)

In addition, Warren then explains yet another sort of mutability that makes Silas (in Warren’s opinion) not worth re-hiring:

What help he is there’s no depending on.

Off he goes always when I need him most. (17-18)

Meanwhile, line 30 refers to three different kinds of change (the change of the seasons; Silas’s return; and Warren’s rejection of the idea of hiring him again): “In winter he comes back to us. I’m done.”

Within a mere 30 lines, then, Frost’s poem has touched on numerous kinds of change, as well as on Warren’s refusal to change again now that he has already changed his views of Silas.  Mary will try to convince Warren to change his mind, and Warren will resist such change until close to the very end of the poem.  Then, unfortunately, he will discover that the ultimate kind of change (death) has descended upon Silas and thus made any further change in the relations of these three characters impossible.

In the poem, "The Death of a Hired Man," Robert Frost outlines the traditions of duty and hard work.  As he does in many of his poems, Frost uses the technique of blank verse which is unrhymed iambic pentameter.

A synopsis of the poem begins with a husband and wife talking on their farmhouse porch.  The wife tells her husband that an old farm worker Silas has returned.  She found him "huddled against the barn door, fast asleep..." The old man wants to make things right by completing his obligation to Warren, the husband.  Warren states that he will not take him back because he is not dependable.  Finally, the husband quiets down and goes into see the old man and discovers that he has has died.  

Abandonment, work ethic, death, and aging-- these are intertwined in the theme of the poem.  Signally the importance of fulfilling a contract, Silas represents the kind of man who feels a sense of responsibility and satisfaction in his work.  Although the old man came back to his "home" where one must be taken in, Silas dies alone suggesting what often happens to the elderly when death conquers them.  Even when Warren announces Silas' death, the old man's isolation is emphasized by the one word,  "Dead."

Characterization is important to this poem's success.  Mary's character is shown from the first line.  She is kind, firm, and resolute in her treatment of others.  Although the day has been busy enough that she and her husband had to go different directions, Mary is anxious to see him.  She does not dare miss Warren at the door so that she can prepare him for what he will find in the kitchen believing  that she can advise him in the treatment of Silas.

On the other hand, Warren is more cynical.   He has put up with so much from this worthless old man.  For many years, he has allowed him to leave and come back and accepted him.  Warren now decides that Silas should be someone else's problem.  In the end, the reader knows that Warren feels empathy and sadness from the death of the hired man.

Although the old man never speaks, he is at the heart of the poem.  The reader learns that he has a disliking of education, never stays with a job for long, and  always thinks the grass is greener somewhere else. Most troublesome is his making promises that he cannot keep.  Silas has been the "unreliable hired hand."  Ultimately, Silas is now old and in need of a place to rest.

A major theme in the poem is that of the home or homecoming relationship.  The conflict between Mary and Warren reaches a climax when they differ in the meaning of home.  He feels that home has to take a person in; however, Mary thinks that one should not have to deserve home.  The poem ends with the three main characters well developed, mostly through dialog but also through a minimum of actions.

In creating this contrast between Mary and Warren, another theme point to the stereotypical view of woman versus man evident in Frost's era. Mary follows the model of Christian forgiveness that expects her to help Silas because he needs it, not because he deserves it.  Warren does not believe that they owe anything to Silas and that they are not bound to help him.

The impact of this epic poem belies itself in the fact that it is one of the most read and studied poems in American literature.  In almost every literary anthology, "The Death of the Hired Man" represents the timelessness of Robert Frost's work.