Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker of the poem is a farmer accounting for the events leading to the killing of his hireling. He is an unreliable narrator as his version of events is vague and supernatural in nature.
Form and Meter
The poem is made up of four sestets and has no metrical scheme, as it is free verse.
Metaphors and Similes
The description of the hireling’s transformation into a “cow with leather horns” alludes to something unnatural perhaps a witchcraft ritual. Moreover, the simile “eyes rose like bread” conveys the image of turning into a hare. The farmer describes his heifers to be as “fat as cream” to showcase the improvement in the farm since hiring the hireling.
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration in the line “disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife”.
Irony
The hireling has brought prosperity to the farm by doubling the yields for the farmer. Yet, the farmer kills him because he is distrustful even though he is fond of his companionship. Consequently, the yield drops after his death, and the farmer is guilty of his actions.
Genre
Dramatic poetry
Setting
The mention of the Lammas festival and hiring of hirelings suggests the poem is probably set in the 18th century. Initially, the events take place on the farm, and when the grammatical tense switches the farmer is at the church confessing.
Tone
The tone switches from jovial to morbid.
Protagonist and Antagonist
As an unreliable narrator, the speaker portrays himself as the protagonist and the hireling as the antagonist.
Major Conflict
The speaker claims that the hireling is not who appears to be and murders him for allegedly being a warlock. He narrates the events as to how he came to distrust the reliable and pleasant employee, which raises more questions than answers.
Climax
The climax in the poem reaches when the farmer murders the worker as he transformed into a hare.
Foreshadowing
The speakers affirming the new hire in the farm with the term “struck” foreshadows the violence to follow.
Understatement
N//A
Allusions
The poem makes several allusions to folklore and superstitious beliefs that the speaker uses to justify his actions. The most significant allusion is the myth of warlocks and witches turning into hares. Furthermore, the speaker alludes to the sexual feelings towards the hireling which is the source of his internal conflict.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The farmer personifies the cows by stating that they doted on the hireling. It showcases the paradigm shift that is occurring on the farm on his arrival.
Hyperbole
The farmer’s decision to murder the hireling perhaps stems from his repressed sexual feeling for him. Henceforth his reaction is hyperbolic in nature since the employee was probably unaware of his feelings.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
