Poetry Out, Out Poem Analysis & Summary by Robert Frost
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Analysis
"Out, out" is a poem written by the American poet Robert Frost. Frost wrote it in the memory of a neighborhood boy who used to play with his children. The boy died having his hand lacerated by the buzz saw with which he was working. The poem dramatically describes the tragic death of the boy amidst the setting of a cruel rural life.
The title of the poem refers to a sentence from Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Where it says,
"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, by Shakespeare
This part clearly describes the whole preoccupation behind writing the poem. It is about as Robert Pack said "the nothingness of life and the meaninglessness of death."
The poem begins with the imagery of dust coming out of the wood being cut by a buzz saw. It probably symbolizes what the poet is going to say at the end of the poem that human life is nothing but dust.
The saw is described as a powerful machine that cuts the wood effortlessly. Nature which surrounds the place of incident is serene. In such a natural setting, the poet imagines the random tragedy of death. This juxtaposition shows us the meaninglessness of life more sharply.
When the boy is working, his sister comes to announce supper. The dramatization of the whole incident is the crucial ingenuity of the poem. It disturbs the concentration of the boy and his hand comes in contact with the saw. The moment is described exactly the way it must have happened, in an instant. The tool which a human has created becomes the weapon against him.
The poet is very detached the moment the boy dies from the shock of having his hand removed by the doctor. It describes the way of dealing with grief. The boy himself is in denial and can not accept the fact that so suddenly and randomly he lost his hand.
The poet narrates the whole incident in such a way as he wants to help in some way. The speaker's choice of words shows bitterness towards life and the frustration which comes from such a tragedy. It is shown from the choice of the title which in disgusts says, "out, out."
The theme of the poem can be compared to many other poems by Frost. It shows the general outlook of the poet towards life, the recognition that life is absurd in the end. Apart from the allusion to Macbeth, the poem uses strong imageries to build up its message of grief. The poem shows how "death is woven into the fabric of life."
Summary
Introduction
Robert Frost wrote "Out, Out " in 1916. It is written in the memory of a boy from his neighborhood. The boy used to play with his children. One day, the boy died due to a buzz saw which cut his hand.
The theme of the poem is related to many other poems which Frost wrote about the futility of human life and tragedies which happen randomly in it.
The poem is written in blank verse. The form of this poem allows the cold grief and surprise which one feels after knowing about the death of someone close and familiar.
Line 1 - 12
The buzz saw is the first thing introduced in the poem. It is personified as someone who is snarling and rattling in the yard. The dust comes out from the cutting of wood. The setting is realistically described. The scenery of five mountain ranges to the edge of the place called Vermont is visible.
The saw keeps snarling. The boy is using it to help out. The poet is premediating so he describes how until then nothing had happened. Those who were working there could have simply ended their work right then because enough cutting was already done.
They might have just relieved the boy from the work for half an hour to make him happy. The poet is anticipating all the ways which could have saved the boy's life about which we are going to know by the end of the poem.
Line 13 - 27
The sister of the boy came and uttered "Supper" and this very word is shown in the poem as the beginning of the whole tragedy. The word supper must have turned the boy absentminded.
The saw comes in contact with the boy's hand. The unbelievable grief of the poet is shown when it says "he must have given the hand." The boy's reaction to the tragedy is shown as one can imagine.
He is unable to believe that his hand is lacerated by the saw. His first outcry was a rueful laugh. He sees his own hands cut from his body. He is in shock and he has lost his faculty to process the shock.
He holds up his cut hand as if half in appeal. The blood keeps spilling out. He cries to his sister with anticipation when the doctor comes that "Don't let him cut my hand off" but the poet writes that the hand was gone already.
Line 28 -34
The doctor put him in the dark of ether which means he anesthetizes him. Someone was watching his heart pulses. The realization that his hand is taken away from him sends him into a shock. The people around him try to listen to his heartbeats but it slows down into little-less-nothing.
And it finally stops, he dies. The indifference towards the dead of the alive is shown here in the same way Frost shows in "home burial." The poet writes here that once the boy's life ends, no more to build on there. The ones who were around were not dead so they turned to their own life affairs.
