Out, Out Analysis

Mountain Interval1916The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard

And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,

Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.

And from there those that lifted eyes could count

Five mountain ranges one behind the other

Under the sunset far into Vermont.

And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,

As it ran light, or had to bear a load.

And nothing happened: day was all but done.

Call it a day, I wish they might have said

To please the boy by giving him the half hour

That a boy counts so much when saved from work.

His sister stood beside them in her apron

To tell them "Supper." At that word, the saw,

As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,

Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap --

He must have given the hand. However it was,

Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!

The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh,

As he swung toward them holding up the hand

Half in appeal, but half as if to keep

The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all --

Since he was old enough to know, big boy

Doing a man's work, though a child at heart --

He saw all spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off --

The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!"

So. But the hand was gone already.

The doctor put him in the dark of ether.

He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.

And then - the watcher at his pulse took fright.

No one believed. They listened at his heart.

Little -- less -- nothing! -- and that ended it.

No more to build on there. And they, since they

Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.

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Hey, thanks you guys for the details. I also think that in the line "and since they were not dead, they turned to their affairs" it means life went on unnoticed and that the family was just sent out on a mission to raise a man to send out into the real world and that could be one of the themes.

| Posted on 2009-11-19 | by a guest

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the title of this poem by robert frost is about the life of the boy. the life from him is leaving, leaving and then it is gone. it also refers to macbeth.

| Posted on 2009-11-12 | by a guest

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i need to know the significance of the title of the poem out out and ideas??

| Posted on 2009-11-03 | by a guest

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POETRY IS UBER x kdflskndflnksldfnlsndflnsdlf lkdflsnkdflns ldflskn lkdfl nlskdnflskndlfnslkd fnlsfld nklskdfn lksd fkdfs lksndlfnklskdn lfnknlse dlfknl

| Posted on 2009-10-28 | by a guest

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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE IDIOTS THAT ARE CALLING OTHER PEOPLE IDIOTS WHEN THEY THEMSELVES ARE NOT EVEN CAPABLE OF SPELLING. PLEASE STOP WASTING HARD WORKING STUDENTS TIME WITH IGNORANT COMMENTS SUCH AS THESE. THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY VERY FAITHFULL TO THE ART OF POETRY BUT I LEAVE YOU WITH THS QUOTE BY Be moved, be inspired, be appalled,
but be silent. Don't speak for the writing of
others...let it speak to you. Otherwise, what's the point? Dissecting
living things kills them.

| Posted on 2009-10-15 | by a guest

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To those of you who wrote sensible comments about "Out Out-" thank you very much, im writing a paper comparing this poem to "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and this is helping to cure my writers block. And to you kids writing nothing but random thoughts that have nothing to do with the poem, thank you so very much for wasting my time.

| Posted on 2009-10-01 | by a guest

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Teh messege off tis peom is 2 alwayz be ursalf. Adn cmon gaiz letz al be frans, what would Richard Frost think if he herd u bikerering over his cute peom. He was arguabley teh best peot of the 1500's. He rote this peom while shakespeer was riting mcbef. I herd a rumor that shakespeer stole the idea of Frost! Scandel in the 1500's. So thatz wot teh peom is aboot, now evrybodie chill k.
xx
Jack Drinkwater
Edgewater Perth WA Australia
+614401094576

| Posted on 2009-09-09 | by a guest

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The 8th grade dude couldn't even spell "innocence" right haha so much for "some people are sometimes really not smarts"
looserrr

| Posted on 2009-09-02 | by a guest

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this poem is the story of my life
to bad i was molested

| Posted on 2009-08-25 | by a guest

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people calm down.... you cant just go off topic and start to analyze this in any way you wish. Its analysis should be kept withing boundaries.

| Posted on 2009-06-10 | by a guest

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well after reading this poem it made me realize that life is to short to be tripping of all the small shit always keep a drink in hand like an alcoholic and if you got some treez then i got 5 on it

| Posted on 2009-05-26 | by a guest

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I used to value this site for the informative and insightful posts. it's really gone to shit.

| Posted on 2009-05-16 | by a guest

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After reading this poem thoroughly 10 times, i found out my balls smell

| Posted on 2009-05-13 | by a guest

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Robert Frost was from San Francisco, California. He was born March 26, 1874. He died on January 29, 1963.
The general and more obvious meaning of this poem is about a boy who is cutting wood, and when his sister calls him in for dinner, he accidentally cuts his hand. He really doesn’t want to lose his hand, but does eventually. When the doctor comes, he puts the boy out with ether, and the boy dies. The people then return to their affairs. I think that this poem also has a deeper meaning. It brings out points about life and death, and how unpredictable death can be. At the beginning of the poem, all is going well. And it seems as though it is a normal day “And nothing happened: day was all but done”. But when his sister tells him it’s time for supper, he gets excited, and is careless, and cuts off his hand. The poet states that by one simple call “Call it a day” death could have been avoided. Had the boy decided that was enough, shut the saw off and went on, he never would have cut his hand. This stresses how unpredictable death can be. Death can take away a boy’s life just as easily as it can take away an older person’s life; “Since he was old enough to know, big boy doing a man's work”. This poem also says that without the ability to work or contribute, all is lost, and he is worthless. “Then the boy saw all—He saw all spoiled”. When the boy sees that he has cut his hand, he sees that he will no longer be able to work or contribute, so he really has no value to society. He plea’s to his sister not to let the doctor take his hand, but he had already lost it. This point is also emphasized with the line “No more to build on there”. It is saying that once the boy is dead, you can’t get anything else out of him. You can’t “build” him into something; that would contribute to society, and work. It also talks about how life goes on, and death is not the end of all things. The last line and a half of the poem; “And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs” shows that even though the boy dies, everything else in life continues on. When the boy died, the things going on in everyone else’s lives still continued on. The doctor would still have other patients to attend to; the family would still have to maintain themselves; cooking meals, cutting wood, ect. Life goes on.
At the beginning of the poem, the poet is fairly descriptive and describes that it is a nice place, and it is pleasant. The first six lines all describe the scene. The poet describes the boy cutting wood, in the lines “And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled, As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.” He does this to show that it just a normal day. The poem is quite melancholic, and there isn’t much punctuation; there isn’t much excitement. This just shows that all is normal near the beginning and nothing is out of the ordinary, but then tragedy strikes and the boy dies. This also emphasizes the unpredictability of death. Most of this poem is written as a narrative, but in one line, line 10, the word “I” is used; “Call it a day, I wish they might have said”. By calling it a day the boy would not have cut his hand off. By using a reference to himself, the narrator, which in this case would be the poet, expresses sadness. This is the only time that sadness is expressed in the play, and it shows the poets desire for the incident to never have happened. The line “To please the boy by giving him the half hour that a boy counts so much when saved from work” shows that the boy is still really a boy at heart. Young boys aren’t drawn to work, and a half an hour that they don’t have to work can be a big treat. At the end of the poem, after the boy has died, there is no emotion expressed. it just states that because the others are still alive, they have to keep on with their daily routines. I think that the poet does this to emphasize his point that life continues on after death. That just because somebody dies, it doesn’t mean everything else stops too. He uses this in a very blunt manner, and it is very effective.
The poet uses a lot of personification in this poem, usually referring to the saw. “The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard” and “At the word, the saw, As if to prove saws knew what supper meant, Leaped out at the boy's hand”. This gives the saw a vicious and mean personality. The poet also uses a metaphor relating blood to life; “ Half in appeal, but half as if to keep the life from spilling”. After the boy cut his hand, he would be bleeding and due to him cutting his hand he will now lose his “life”, because without your hands, and your ability to contribute, you are nothing.
This poem could relate to many people. Its message, life goes on, can relate to anybody who has experienced a death in their life. It may not have been as blunt as it is in the poem, and it would take time to get over, but after awhile, they are able to get on with their lives. This poem does have historical relevance. The title, “Out, Out-“ comes from Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. This line occurs when Macbeth learns of lady Macbeths death. “Out, Out Brief Candle!”. The theme of the play is also related to an event that occurred in April, 1915. One of Frost’s neighbors sons had his hand cut off in a saw accident. The boy went into shock and died of a heart attack.

| Posted on 2009-05-10 | by a guest

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The title of the poem provides an early clue to its contents. It is a quote from the end of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where Macbeth learns of his wife’s death:
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
The scene around the boy and his family is a beautiful and picturesque one, if only they had time to admire and enjoy it:
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont. (lines 4 -6)
No-one is looking at the view: all are too busy. The boy’s sister has been in the house preparing supper, and when she comes out to fetch the family, the boy momentarily loses concentration:
His sister stood beside them in her apron
To tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap--
He must have given the hand. (lines 13 – 17)
This seems to place blame for the incident on both the boy and the machinery: certainly the personification of the saw creates an unfavourable impression of this dangerous new machinery now being used across the country.
Loss of a Hand
At first the reader does not realise what has happened. We understand the results of the accident at the same moment the boy does:
The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all-- (lines 19 – 22)
The boy seems to realize that even if he recovers from this accident he will be unable to take his place alongside his family as a worker on the farm, and will therefore become a liability:
He saw all spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off--
The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!" (lines 25 – 26)
Worse is yet to come. The poem ends with the boy’s death, presumably as a result of the shock he has undergone. After the drama of the incident itself, the boy’s death is strangely anti-climactic:
They listened at his x that ended it. (lines 31 – 32)
Life Goes On
The family’s reaction to the tragic and sudden loss of a son seems callous and uncaring on first reading:
And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs. (lines 33 – 34)
However, in practical terms the family are now one worker down, meaning that the remaining members will have to work harder if they are to survive: they simply do not have the luxury of time to mourn the lost child.
And then is heard no more. (V.v, lines 23 – 26)
Perhaps more than any other of Frost’s poems, “Out, Out –“ represents the harsh reality of life in the countryside. Life was hard for many American farm workers in the early twentieth century, as families struggled to make enough money to cope financially. Certainly everybody in this poem is hard at work, including the children: the young boy has been left in charge of a buzz saw which “snarled and rattled” in a menacing way, “Doing a man's work, though a child at heart”

| Posted on 2009-05-06 | by a guest

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retard alert
frost illustrates the hardships of country living and the fact that tragedy changes nothing and achieves nothing
simple as that
my pin code is 8798

| Posted on 2009-05-05 | by a guest

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i agree with the guy below me
the poem is a nice one that illustrates the beauty of life in the country and a kid dies
the end
:)

| Posted on 2009-05-05 | by a guest

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those of you who dislike people calling each other idiots are idiots
the basic element of analysing poetry is discussion
if you dont like it take your peaceful ways to your books and stay there
out, out- has many different ways of looking at it from the personification of the buzz saw creating a sense of agression and anger to the need of the time for humans to work for survival even if it means moving on quickly after tragedy as shown by the end of the poem and these things can only be fully seen through many different perspectives of readers

| Posted on 2009-05-05 | by a guest

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I just found it very irritating that I was trying to get a better understanding on what everyone though, yet I was forced to read about how everyone thinks eachother is an idiot.
Poetry is about developing your own ideas. As long as you can argue your ideas, you have a right idea. There is not one meaning to anything.
but yeah a lot of you had some great ideas that I remember hearing from my AP teacher in high school so thanks for the recap =]

| Posted on 2009-04-28 | by a guest

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you guys who are calling others idiots, refrain as you are only criticizing a hypocritical trait.
This poem shows how hard country life is for everyone.
"Five mountain ranges" gives a sense of freedom and the reader is able to stereoscopically visualize country life.
the fact that the boy is doing the work of a man shows already how they struggle financially. The boy has already injured his hand extremely, yet he is worrying about the doctor amputating it, preventing him from working. This is again shown at the end of the poem (last line), as the son of the family has just died, yet they have to continue to work in order to survive themselves.

| Posted on 2009-04-24 | by a guest

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Out damn spot. Out i say.
One. Two.
Fie, my lord, fie!
A Solider and affeared?
What need we fear who knows it when none can call our power into account?
Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?
The Out, Out scence from Macbeth by Shakespeare.
Had to memorize it a few months ago.

| Posted on 2009-04-18 | by a guest

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I feel that this story has a great emphasis on how easily a life can be lost. How fragile life really is, this is a poem that takes you out of this 21st century world, were a boy has to do a mans work and were he has to go through a mans pain. We see this as a horror movie were the climax is at the death of a young boy. Although clique you have to look between the lines. The death of this boy would be devastating in today's society, youth is known as the key to a successful future but the matter of the fact is, the story is not his death but how he lived.

| Posted on 2009-04-16 | by a guest

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this poem is chiefly aimed to discuss the brevity of human life, much like the quote used by Macbeth. Which is alluded to in the poems title of "Out, out-".

| Posted on 2009-04-12 | by a guest

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everyone must remember that poems are meant to be analyzed and given meaning by each individual person.most of you are right why argue over something meant to be molded bye each individual mind.
n.k.

| Posted on 2009-04-06 | by a guest

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I commend most of you for coming to the same conclusions as I did haha. But if you had to summarize, would you agree with:
"Out, Out"'s theme is to enjoy life, but to be cautious, as long as you can because carelessness can cause accidents and the loss of the most important things, which no one else will mourn.
The boy could not enjoy the beautiful scenery, indeed he couldn't even enjoy his supper! He got too excited, and the saw slipped. Without his hand he was worthless, so he let go of life, and everyone went about their business.

| Posted on 2009-03-17 | by a guest

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Everyone should calm down. Robert Frost, I think, would love the varying opinions presented here. What one believes the meaning of a poem to be is exactly just that, one's belief. To me, the poem highlights life, death, and indifference.
Don't be so upset about people referencing child labor laws. Frost was somewhat of an activist and maybe through Shakepear's Macbeth, he could express his disdain for cruelty to children in the work place. Every thought has a place at the table.
I was glad to read the varying opinions on "Out, Out". When you read this, don't slap me too hard in your response.(Smile)

| Posted on 2009-03-16 | by a guest

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This is a poem that deals with the necissity to enjoy life while you have it, rather than spending too much of it working. Frost does an excellent job of depicting the beatiful Vermont mountains in the background. He juxtaposes (contrasts) this with the "snarling" buzz saw, which can be taken to symbolize work. The boy cannot appreciate the beatiful nature around him because he must work. Frost mentions how the boy would've appreciated being able to end a half hour early and how the boy wasted his day working. Then, as he goes to finally squeeze some joy out of what remains of his day, he sustains a terrible accident and dies. His unexpected and tragic accident is symbolic of the briefness of life. The only thing we can be sure of in life is that life will end, and we must spend our time appreciating its beauty. The boy failed to do this. He desperatly tries to cling to his remaining life, puffing his lips in and out, but it is too late. We do not get a redo in life. Tragic as his accident is, people fail to learn from it, and they simply move on. This can all be compressed into "Carpe Diem", latin for "sieze the day".

| Posted on 2009-03-11 | by a guest

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The the basic meaning of poem is about death and how people react to it. Not that 'you can't always get what you want'. Like come on, where on earth did you got that from

| Posted on 2009-03-09 | by a guest

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You all should just STOP writing about how everyone else is wrong. Just listen.
You're supposed to develop your own opinion. Don't argue with other people's: if that's the way they see it, that's the way they see it.
All right?

| Posted on 2009-03-03 | by a guest

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you guys are idiots!
this poem is oviously about the the loss of innosense and that you cant always get what you want!
some people are sometimes really not smarts :/
im in 8th grade and i could figure this out

| Posted on 2009-03-01 | by a guest

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you n00bs
this poem is so not about anything you guyzz said
x

| Posted on 2009-02-24 | by a guest

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The lack of sentiment on the part of the onlookers demonstrates the life and attitudes of the time.

| Posted on 2009-02-12 | by a guest

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I believe that the poem "Out, Out-" is an allusion to Macbeth by Shakespear. The line about the candle quoted beneath me about a million times point to just that. A candle can be extinguished with such ease and sudden movement, that no one will care or even notice. The boy's life is compared to the candle in Macbeth because the other "characters" in the poem "And they, since they/ Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs". However, I also believe that the boy was useless to the family since he lost a hand so they didn't really care what happened next to him because he couldn't help them any longer.

| Posted on 2009-02-12 | by a guest

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Please note that "Frost says that..." is wrong, it´s not Frost who is speaking here, it´s the speaker/persona or just 'voice' of the poem.
Frost is the author, yes, but not necessarily the speaker.
It´s hard to determine who´s the persona here, but it´s most probably not Frost who says "...I wish they might have said".
In addition, i think it is interesting how the saw is personified here:
"At that word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap --
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting." ,as if it was alive.
Also, the boy didn´t do "man´s work". He was simply working like anyone else, not just because of fun. The evidence is here:
"And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work."
See? A half hour isn´t much time, but when you have to work a half lour less pretty much. Also, that last half hour could have saved his life, too.

| Posted on 2009-02-09 | by a guest

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you guys are idiots!
this poem is oviously about the the loss of innosense and that you cant always get what you want!
some people are sometimes really not smarts :/

| Posted on 2009-02-06 | by a guest

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It's not that the family didn't care that the boy died. They COULDN'T care. This poem is taking place in the countryside where every person available has to work. With the boy dead, it means more work and less people to work. The family doesn't have time to mourn a dead child. Maybe nowadays in the city, but this was back then. In the country. Get rid of your 20th century mentalities. If I'm wrong, sue me. I'm just a freshmen in high school who is stating her opinion.

| Posted on 2009-01-26 | by a guest

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I think that most the majority of the analysis above is poor and lacking in depth. I find it funny that people commenting, with such assurance and aparent understanding, on the poem can't even spell "rime" correctly.
I will post my analysis as soon as I have written it.

| Posted on 2009-01-24 | by a guest

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i think it is a sad poem which talks about a child who was distracted by the beauty of nature thats why the speaker mention the "sweet scented stuff..from there those that lifted eye could count..montain ranges.." and also distracted by his sister calling him for supper so that made him cut his hand by that saw.. so it could be that it talks about his family being unaware of the consequences that will happen and they were careless letting a boy do a man's work.. so in the end of the poem after his death they never change or feel guilty of making a young boy do such a work they turn to their lifes..and life goes on.. people dont change!! not even learn from this experience.. and also it is about that no one knows when his death comes it could be anytime anywhere even for a young boy! i didn't read macbeth so that didn't help me to know why it is called "out out" i still don't get what he meant by out out! maybe out in the yard thats what i only thought of.

| Posted on 2009-01-08 | by a guest

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Senel Wanniarachchi
Impressions on “Out Out”

“Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
that struts and frets his hour upon the stage
and then is heard no more”
Mentioned above are words from William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth uttered by Macbeth himself at the hearing of the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth. Robert Frosts Title “Out Out ” too must have been surely inspired by this.
Macbeth has come to regard life as brief and meaningless, “signifying nothing,” and easily taken away. The life of the young boy in the poem too is certainly short, and snatched away from him in a split second. The poem brings out a several important issues such as the uncertainty of life, the inevitable acceptance of death and the unpredictability of the future.
Frost epitomizes the uncertainty and the brevity of life through the boy, the “big boy” who “did a man’s work” showing how age does not matter to death and how life can taken away harshly from the youngest of persons. He shows how fragile one’s life is that within a split-second there could be “nothing to build on”.
At the end of the poem Frost says that the people “turned to their affairs as “they were not the one dead” refers to the subsequent return to their daily routines. Though one might call this callousness, indifference or mere selfishness it is really the inevitable need to accept death and the fact that life goes on and you have to move with it that Frost bring out. The persons in the poem were taking a pragmatic approach to the situation by persevering in the inevitability of a harsh reality as death is something that cannot be altered.
The poem also shows how things can change within a moment. At the beginning everything happens as expected, “nothing happened” and the “day was all but done” but very unexpectedly the tragic incident occurred.
Therefore It can be concluded that Frost’s poem is not merely a narrator of a story but also bring out many important issues into the limelight.

| Posted on 2009-01-01 | by a guest

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Frost is alluding to these lines in Macbeth: "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Macbeth (Act V, Scene V). I think that pretty much sums it up. Good quote. Very true.

| Posted on 2008-12-24 | by a guest