s shows that he does not want human contact. So, the whole poem shows a man completely cut off from society. He is someone who walks in the darkness of his own loneliness.

Longing for Human Connection: In “The Death of the Hired Man” (1914), alienation is shown through Silas. Silas is an old farm worker. He is very sick. He returns to the farm of Warren and Mary. He thinks they are his close ones. However, Warren does not trust Silas. He refuses to take him back because he has been unreliable. Silas left the couple during the busy haying season. This makes Silas feel even more helpless and lonely. Mary, however, understands his loneliness. He says to Warren:

“He [Silas] has come home to die.”

Silas does not go to his brother, who is a rich bank director. Maybe he does not want to shame his educated brother. This shows how lonely Silas is. He chooses to come back to Warren and Mary instead. In the end, Silas dies. So, Silas’s story is the story of an alienated man who seeks human connection in his final moments.

Yearning for Childhood: In “Birches,” Frost presents alienation differently. The speaker sees some birch trees bent by ice-storms. He imagines that the trees are bent this way because a young boy has been swinging them. Then, he remembers that as a boy, he also swung on birches. It was a joyful childhood activity. Now, as an adult, life feels stressful and full of responsibilities. The speaker wishes he could go back to childhood and enjoy the simple joy. As he says:

“I once myself a swinger of birches.

And so I dream of going back to be.”

But he knows this is impossible. This is also a kind of alienation. His longing to return makes him feel separated from his joyful childhood.

Wall and Separation: In “Mending Wall” (1914), Frost shows alienation through the repairing of a wall between two neighbors. The speaker thinks the wall is unnecessary. He argues that his apple trees will never get across the wall and eat his neighbour’s pines. Moreover, there are no cows to keep in or out. The speaker feels the wall only keeps people apart. But his neighbor believes,

“Good fences make good neighbors.” 

It shows that, sometimes, different opinions separate people from each other.

Alienation and Tree: The speaker of “Tree at my Window” (1928) is also lonely. He talks to a tree outside his window. He says the tree faces storms but still stands firm. Just like the tree, he also faces hardships in his life. The speaker is talking and comparing his struggle to a lonely tree. This tells us that he is just as lonely as the tree.

In conclusion, alienation is a major theme in Robert Frost’s poems. His poems show people who are cut off from society, from others, or from their own past. No other poet of his time wrote so beautifully about the simple lives and feelings of common men.