Out, Out by Robert Frost: Analysis
Emilie Debarnot
2nd3
Wednesday 9th of September 2014
How does the writer create a sense of horror in “Out, Out-”?
The poem “Out, Out-” by Robert Frost is about a young boy cutting trees with a buzz-saw somewhere in the mountains in Vermont. After being announced that supper was ready, the young boy accidently cuts his hand off, and dies later on after losing too much blood. Robert Frost describes the tragedy of the boy’s death in a very particular manner and fills his poem with suspense and horror. This poem has many different themes, but the main and most important one is the fragility of life. Frost uses personification to present and describe the buzz-saw. He makes this inanimate object come to life, and makes it seem aggressive and deadly. In the poem, the phrase “snarled and rattled” comes back a couple times, and it seems as though it is not a saw anymore but in fact a beast or a snake. Throughout the poem, the saw seems to have a mind of its own, “At the word, the saw, as if to prove saws knew what supper meant, leaped out at the boy’s hand” and by doing so, Robert Frost makes the young boy seem innocent. He refuses to lay blame on the boy for the injury and accuses the buzz-saw (by making it evil and alive), but also accuses the adults for not calling it a day before the accident happened. The saw is a symbol of danger right from the start, seeing as the poem takes place in the mountains and that it is used to cut down trees; it is bringing harm to this beautiful place. The author includes a lot of personifications and mentions the saw many times, maybe to stress its importance. From the beginning of the poem until the end, we never really know if the saw is indeed alive, or if it is just the young boy’s hand that controls it. The sense of horror starts with the name of the poem. Robert Frost chose this title because it is mentioned in Macbeth’s soliloquy, about life and its insignificance, and he wanted to bring all the bad luck of Macbeth into
2nd3
Wednesday 9th of September 2014
How does the writer create a sense of horror in “Out, Out-”?
The poem “Out, Out-” by Robert Frost is about a young boy cutting trees with a buzz-saw somewhere in the mountains in Vermont. After being announced that supper was ready, the young boy accidently cuts his hand off, and dies later on after losing too much blood. Robert Frost describes the tragedy of the boy’s death in a very particular manner and fills his poem with suspense and horror. This poem has many different themes, but the main and most important one is the fragility of life. Frost uses personification to present and describe the buzz-saw. He makes this inanimate object come to life, and makes it seem aggressive and deadly. In the poem, the phrase “snarled and rattled” comes back a couple times, and it seems as though it is not a saw anymore but in fact a beast or a snake. Throughout the poem, the saw seems to have a mind of its own, “At the word, the saw, as if to prove saws knew what supper meant, leaped out at the boy’s hand” and by doing so, Robert Frost makes the young boy seem innocent. He refuses to lay blame on the boy for the injury and accuses the buzz-saw (by making it evil and alive), but also accuses the adults for not calling it a day before the accident happened. The saw is a symbol of danger right from the start, seeing as the poem takes place in the mountains and that it is used to cut down trees; it is bringing harm to this beautiful place. The author includes a lot of personifications and mentions the saw many times, maybe to stress its importance. From the beginning of the poem until the end, we never really know if the saw is indeed alive, or if it is just the young boy’s hand that controls it. The sense of horror starts with the name of the poem. Robert Frost chose this title because it is mentioned in Macbeth’s soliloquy, about life and its insignificance, and he wanted to bring all the bad luck of Macbeth into