Injuries In 'Out And Out, Out' By Robert Frost

How are injuries and their effects explored in the poems Disabled by Wilfred Owen and Out, Out by Robert Frost?

“Out, Out” and “Disabled” both represent physical injuries and their effects in several ways. Robert Frost and Wilfred Owen both show the consequences of injuries, for example they demonstrate how injuries caused physical pain due to industrial advances, psychological impacts and how the people around him felt. In addition, they also show how society felt towards the injured and how they struggled to accept them. Both Owen and Frost wanted to create an anti-war image to oppose other poets who were portraying war as a fun game that everyone should join, like Jesse Pope in her poem “Who’s for the game”. Frost tackled the issue in a
less direct way than Owen, rather than relating his poem directly to the brutality of the war, Frost told the story of a boy who had been abandoned by society because of the uncaring traits that war had made acceptable. The poets differ because Owen was a soldier so he had first-hand experiences of what was going on in the war. Sadly he died while he was fighting in France when he was only 25. He used what he saw and stories he’d heard to help inform his poems. He once said "my subject is War, and the pity of War. The poetry is in the pity." Both poems are very different in the way that they tell different stories and the writers have different experiences however they both have the same main theme and ideas about what the experience of war was really about.

In “Out, Out” and “Disabled”, Frost and Owen express the social significance of injuries:

“And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges on behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.”

In “Out, Out” the natural imagery contrasts between humanity and nature. “under the sunset” this visual imagery conveys the beauty, tranquility and harmony of nature. “Five mountain ranges” shows the excessive grandeur and beauty, this contrasts with the idea that humanity has become perverse, incongruous and has become distorted. The word “those” implies that if you make the effort you can appreciate the finer points of existence, but you must “lift your eyes” in other words, not be so self-involved with your own affairs. Social impact and significance is also shown in “Disabled” by “he sat in a Wheeled chair, waiting for dark, and shivered in his ghastly suit of grey.” The adjective “grey” has connotations of depression which suggests he has a dark mindset now that he cannot participate in society. “Waiting for dark” symbolizes how he is waiting for death. The verb “waiting” and “sat” are stationary, static and bored which conveys an image of inactivity. In “Disabled” the social significance is on the viewpoint of others whereas in “Out, Out” it is from the view point of him, of no-one paying attention.

Secondly, psychological impacts of the injuries are represented in “Disabled” and “Out, Out”:

“How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come
And put him into bed? Why don’t
They come?”

In “Disabled” the cold he feels is partly the way that society has been “cold” towards him as a response to his injury. Repetition of the interrogative mood “Why don’t they come?” creates a pleading tone that is whiney, childlike and vulnerable. Psychologically he is infantilised. “Put to bed” is passive and shows he is childlike. Psychological pain is also presented in “Out, Out” “The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh”. “Rueful” is putting emphasis on the boys craving to be seen as manlier and stronger. Also the word “laugh” seems inappropriate considering the circumstances so we assume that it is a substitute for his confusion and shock and to disguise his dread and fear. Like in “Disabled” the boy in “Out, Out” is infantilised when Frost describes him as a “boy”. It creates the image that he is an innocent defenceless child. This links up to the soldiers in the war who were also innocent and defenceless. In “Out, Out” psychological pain is shown through the way the boy reacts to his injury whereas, in “Disabled” the injury is presented after the injury and how society make him feel.

Furthermore, Injuries and their effects are presented in “Disabled” and “Out, Out” through the reaction of others.
Frost says in “Out, Out”

“No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.”

In “Out, Out” we are made to feel distant from the character, by saying “the one dead” Frost is making the character anonymous. The boy is obscured, and has lost his identity. This de-personalises the situation. In the final line it says “turning” this gives us the impression that people turned a blind eye to those who were suffering. This is a reference to the war and how people ignored the injured. Frost adopts the selfish attitude of the characters when he says “No more to build on” He has began to find their indifference acceptable. This suggests that the selfishness around the time of the war was like a common illness. The reaction of others is also seen in “Disabled” when Owen says “All of them touch him like some queer disease”. This shows us that he expected lots of people to respect him but people don’t go near him because they think he is dirty and infectious. “Like some queer disease is a simile that demonstrates that people are so disgusted by his injuries that they forget to treat him like a hero. “Them” refers to women, this makes him seem childlike. The word “disease” shows that the women find him repulsive, Frost displays the reaction of others through social standards and expectations whereas, Owen explains it as more as
a narrative.

Finally, injuries and their effects are explored in both poems through physical pain and suffering:

“Poured it down the shell-holes till the veins ran dry,
And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race”

Owen uses vivid imagery to show that the man’s looks and physical ability was left on the battlefield. By using verb “pouring” it exaggerates and makes the injury seem more serious and uncontrollable. The statement “veins ran dry” links up to the loss of blood in the war. “hot race” is a metaphor which depicts life as an energetic competition which he is now unable to participate in because of his injury. Physical pain is also seen in “Out, Out”, “As if to prove saws knew what supper meant. Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap –“. The use of personification to describe the saw, “leaped” and “knew what supper meant” all personify the saw and makes it sound like a hungry beast who is going to have the boy’s hand for supper. The boy becomes quickly confused because of the speed and violence of the event for example, “leaped out” is a quick and rapid action. Frost uses enjambment to speed the up the pace of the poem in order to make the atmosphere seem more chaotic and confusing. Although both poems are quite similar in the way they present physical pain and suffering, physical pain is more graphic in “Disabled” because of the use of vivid imagery.

In conclusion, both poems display the effects the injury has caused and how they have impacted on their subjects and their lives.
Both poems are similar as they feature characters who have to deal with extreme pain and suffering. Both subjects injure physical pain after the injury differently, in “Out, Out” the boy’s life slowly slips away and his life and hopes for the future are cut short in the tragic circumstances whereas, in “Disabled” the man continues to exist craving the pain that he used to feel rather than the psychological pain he suffers now. “One time he liked a blood smear down his leg” this is a comparison between the past and present. The start of war was believed to be like a sports field however, overtime blood became like a tribal symbol. This represents that the veteran not only loss limbs on the battlefield but he also lost his past. The veteran in “Out, Out” had a bitter sweet end however, the veteran in “Disabled” has a bitter existence. Both Owen and Frost definitely succeeded in creating their anti-war image through the themes and poetic techniques they used
throughout.