Robert Frost: Poems
In lines 48-102 why does Mary say Silas returned
"The death of the hired man"
"The death of the hired man"
A farm wife, Mary pleads with her husband, Warren, to take back a former farmhand who has always disappointed him. The farmhand, Silas, is very ill, and Mary is convinced that he has returned to the farm to die. Warren has not seen Silas in his ill state and, still angry over the contract that Silas broke when them in the past, does not want to have Silas on his property. Mary’s compassionate urging eventually convinces him, but when Warren goes to get Silas, he is already dead.