The Death of the Hired Man – Good Blank Verse
Robert Frost Shows Skill With Non-Rhyming Poetry Using Other Devices
Blank verse—unrhymed lines set to a fixed metrical pattern—has been used for centuries in English poetry. Such great poems as Milton’s Paradise Lost, Wordsworth’s The Prelude, and Tennyson’s Idylls of the King are all blank verse. The general shortage of rhyming words in English, as compared to the Romance languages, make blank verse a good candidate for long poems.
But how to make it poetic? Since the poet purposely sets aside rhyme, other poetic devices must carry more weight.
Word Choices are Critical in Blank Verse
Robert Frost used many poetic devices in “The Death of the Hired Man”. One was specific word choices, words that say more in their context than whole sentences of lesser words can. Yet the words are not odd or unusual. They are simply “the best words in the best order,” as Coleridge said.
This begins in line one, where “Mary sat musing”. Musing is a word wonderfully full of connotation. It implies thought on something specific—the lamp-flame in this case, but can make the reader think of either light thoughts or deep thoughts, depending on context and the reader’s pre-disposition. Yes Mary was musing, but not so deeply that she missed Warren’s footsteps early enough that she could intercept him before he got in the house.
In line 9 Frost describes how Mary dealt with Warren: she “drew him down.” She had already told him that their former farm hand, Silas, was back, hoping for work. The fact that Mary “drew him down” implies resistance on Warren’s part and determination on Mary’s part. One can almost see Warren stiffening and the news, and Mary having to take firm action.
Meter in Dialog Still Relies on Natural Speech
The meter in the poem does not overpower. The poem is metrical. Apply the rules of scansion to it and the result will be iambic pentameter. But Frost uses what are called “relief feet”—something other than iambs somewhere in the line. The result is lines that feel iambic but do not overpower.
Though metrical, the dialog is natural. Warren and Mary do not speak in a way a real person would not in those circumstances. The dialog is loose and easy. Frost does not add so many words that the reader is spoon fed. Warren and Mary know what each other means. This begins with Mary’s first two sentences: “Silas is back,” and “Be kind.” The reader can easily sense that Warren’s first instinct will be something other than kindness towards Silas. Much water has passed under the bridge Silas crossed when he left the farm couple in the lurch. The rest of the poem plays some of this out, but much is left to the reader’s interpretation.
Frost does not succumb to the temptation to dump back story through dialog. When Warren gives his reasons for not wanting Silas back, in lines 11 through 30, everything he says is needed to explain his position to Mary, not to the reader. Just a few phrases, such as “that fellow” (line 12), “If he left then” (line 14), and “when help is scarce” (line 29), are the compressed language of poetry, yet at the same time the natural speech of a couple under the stress of a difficult decision.
Exclusion as a Poetic Device
Frost says much by what he doesn’t say. Warren and Mary do not mention any children. Are they a childless couple, either before starting their family or after normal child-bearing years? Are their children grown and no longer involved with the farm? Is the couple doing all the farm work themselves now, and is it a farm that is a little too large to be worked alone but not large enough to justify having a permanent farm hand?
The reader can find delight in puzzling through such techniques. Frost uses them masterfully. The lack of rhyme is barely noticed in the poem. Indeed, it is difficult to fathom the poem being set to rhyme. Surely it would lose something. That must be the ultimate test of blank verse. Frost passed the test with this one.
See also these articles:
"The Death of the Hired Man" - An Overview
Character Development in "The Death of the Hired Man"
Robert Frost Excelled at Blank Verse
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Reading & Literature
Latest Articles