‘Out, Out-’

Robert Frost
Context
• "Out, Out" is taken from the 1916 collection Mountain Interval, which opens with what
is perhaps Frost's most famous poem, "The Road Not Taken." The collection's title is
New England speak for land in a valley, but also suggests a kind of pause.
• The poem shares two key traits with many of Frost's other poems: firstly, there is a
focus on the natural world—used here as a way to lure the reader into a false sense of
security. Secondly, the poem has a kind of fable-like quality to it, even if that is to
ultimately question whether, in the light of such tragedies as the boy's young death, life
actually has any meaning at all.
• The poem is inspired by real events, one of Frost’s friends lost a son to a buzz saw
accident
• The poem was released during WW1 when people were coming to grips with the
meaning of life and the cruelty of modern warfare and machinery
The Title
• 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.

• Shakespeare’s Macbeth
• Comments on the fragility of life
The Poem
• Foreshadowing: The poem opens with a saw that ‘snarls’ and ‘rattles’ – Think of a snarling animal or a
rattle snake
• There are elements of danger present, but the warning seen by the reader is not apparent to the young
boy and his sister
• The saw is personified as a dangerous animal, one that works with his master, but would bite his hand at
the first opportunity
• Could this personification by significant in any other way?
• The danger of the opening lines is pacified by the idyllic description of the surrounding countryside
• The air is filled with a beautiful aroma of cut wood and the mountain ranges proved a beautiful
backdrop to this rustic scene
• Enjambment in the opening few lines hints at the rolling, sprawling nature of the mountains in the
distance. This scene is a small part of a sprawling countryside
• The description of the natural scenery builds a false sense of security, the scene becomes mundane,
ordinary
• The following lines focus on the power of the saw, it is a strong tool, it serves a purpose
• The sound of the saw to us is startling, but this was part of everyday life for the boy
• This was very much a ‘nothing day’ – a normal day, nothing eventful or out of the
ordinary – ‘nothing happened’
• This highlights how quickly tragedy can unfold, how life can be snatched away from us
so fast
• The speaker in the poem talks about how he wishes the boy had been let off work early,
how as a young boy he would have loved to finish up a few minutes early, like a
schoolboy who was let out of class before the bell, but he was not
• In a short simile, the saw comes to life…’as if to prove’
• At the sound of supper, like a hungry animal it leaps at the boys hands
• Simile and personification meet here to deadly effect
• The confusion of the moment is described in the poem as the speaker is unsure as to
how this all happened – ‘or seemed to leap, he must have given the hand. However it
was, neither refused the meeting.’
• Two main themes are presented to us in this moment
• 1) Death can strike at any place and at any time
• 2) Human technology holds a power that is sometimes difficult to control
• The word ‘hand’ is repeated three times here in a short space of time
• It changes in description from being ‘the boy’s hand’ to just ‘the hand’
• This shows the alienness of the hand as it becomes detached from the boys body, it
becomes a separate, bloody, odd, entity
• At first he is in shock, disbelieving the sight of his severed hand gushing blood. He
laughs a "rueful laugh," which touches on the absurdity of the moment—absurd because
just moments ago everything was as normal.
• The laugh made by the boy seems to connect the poem to the allusion in its title.
Essentially, Macbeth is characterizing life as a kind of joke "signifying nothing," i.e.
without meaning. And that idea is at the heart of this poem—how can life be significant if
it can be taken away in such a brief moment, if it can be cut so short
• Lines 20 to 21 show the boy's next actions, as he swings his hand "toward them." It's not
clear who counts as part of this "them," but presumably it's the boy's family. The lack of
detail about the others focuses the reader's attention on the boy, rather than the fear or
subsequent grief of his family.
• He cannot believe what he's seeing—but he's also trying in vain to "keep / The life from
spilling." He's trying to prevent his wrist from bleeding too much. The caesura here after
spilling is important, representing the instant in which the boy starts to fear for his hand
—and his life.

• The speaker, acting again as a distant storyteller, introduces the boy's dawning realization
of his own mortality, the -dash end-stop setting up what is to follow: "Then the boy saw
all—"
• The start of line 27 is one of the poem's most brutal moments. The single-word sentence
—"So."—indicates a short passage of time but also conveys helplessness and
desperation. There's nothing that the boy can do—and there's nothing that the doctor
can do either. Indeed, the hand is already lost.
• It's worth reiterating the way that the poem mostly uses detached, proselike language to
describe what's happening. This ties in with the poem's deeper question about the
meaningfulness/ meaninglessness of life. And from hereon in, the poem mostly uses
end-stops at the end of each line, foregrounding the slowing pulse of the boy has he
nears death and capturing a sense of finality.
• The doctor then makes the boy unconscious with "ether," which is like a smaller version
of death that anticipates the real thing.
• The end-stops and multiple caesurae in this section slow the pace of the poem down,
mimicking the boy's slowing heart. As with elsewhere in the poem, it's notable how
deliberately prosaic the tone is here.
• The poem is on the one hand showing how death can strike at any time, but also the
way that death itself is a kind of mundane experience, in the sense that it's always
happening.
• The poem is then incredibly matter-of-fact: "and that ended it." This partly expresses
the disbelief surrounding the boy's death; it seems so out of the blue that there isn't even
room for any emotion yet.
• Perhaps that's why the final two lines seem cold and removed—because no one present
in the poem can actually come to terms with what has happened.
• On the other hand, perhaps these two lines just express a harsh truth about the way life
moves on when someone dies, barely pausing before everyday concerns take over once
again.