The Death of the Hired Man

Poetry | Robert Frost

Discuss the dramatic qualities in Frost’s poems.

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Discuss the dramatic qualities in Frost s poems For DU College Robert Frost is known for his simple pictures of rural New England but his poems also have strong dramatic qualities His poems are not silent or still They feel alive because he uses dialogue conflict inner struggle vivid scenes and emotional tension Even when the setting is a quiet farm or a forest path the poems feel like small dramas happening in the lives of ordinary people Let us discuss the dramatic qualities in some of his poems below nbsp Dialogue and Human Conflict in The Death of the Hired Man The Death of the Hired Man is one of Frost s most dramatic poems It is written almost entirely in dialogue The whole story happens at night in a farmhouse Warren returns home after working in the fields Mary tells him that Silas their old hired worker has

come back Silas is very sick and almost at the end of his life The rest of the poem is Warren and Mary talking about what to do with him nbsp Warren is angry Because Silas left them once during a busy haying season and Warren cannot forget it Warren tells Mary that he warned Silas last season But he still left nbsp I told him so last haying didn t I If he left then I said that ended it nbsp This conversation between Warren and Mary is very dramatic Mary on the other hand is gentle She knows Silas is very ill This time he has not returned to work Instead he has come home to find a peaceful place before death She tells Warren nbsp He Silas has come home to die nbsp Warren argues that this is not Silas s home He thinks home is about blood connection and obligation He says nbsp Home is the place where when you have to go there They have to take you in nbsp Warren says Silas should go to his brother a rich bank director Mary believes home is something you somehow haven't to deserve It means home does not require a blood connection Home is about love and kindness Warren listens and slowly begins to soften Finally when he goes inside the house to check on Silas he is already dead nbsp Silas himself never speaks but his silent presence in the house makes the drama stronger The poem feels like a small play with characters tension emotion and a final tragic end when Silas quietly dies nbsp Uncertainty of Making Choices in The Road Not Taken The Road Not Taken shows a different kind of drama Here the conflict is not between two people but inside the speaker s mind He stands in a yellow wood where one road becomes two He wants to explore both roads but life does not allow that He says nbsp And sorry I could not travel both nbsp This simple moment becomes a dramatic scene because the speaker must choose one road without knowing what will happen He looks down each road trying to see the future but the future is hidden The tension grows quietly inside him This inner struggle feels dramatic because everyone faces these moments in life The drama comes from the uncertainty of making choices We never know which path brings us what and every path involves lost opportunity nbsp Memory Escape and Emotional Tension in Birches In Birches Frost creates drama through memories and imagination The speaker sees birch trees bent down by an ice storm He imagines a boy swinging on them He remembers his own childhood and how he also climbed and bent the trees These memories are warm and full of movement nbsp But the poem slowly changes The speaker begins to talk about the weight of adult life He wishes he could climb toward heaven and escape all troubles for a moment But he also knows he must return to the real world because nbsp Earth s the right place for love nbsp The drama here comes from the pull between two desires the desire to escape and the desire to stay connected to life nbsp In conclusion Robert Frost s poems feel dramatic because they show real people facing real conflicts He uses dialogue inner struggle and strong images to give life to simple rural scenes Frost shows that even ordinary lives hold deep drama This makes his poems timeless and emotionally rich

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