Macbeth Compared to Robert Frost Poem Essay Example
Sam Shovlin
5/5/13
Mrs. Sepesi
Lit IV
Macbeth/Robert Frost Comparison In the play Macbeth, there are many scenes and lines that leave an impression on the reader. Whether these quotes are powerful, saddening, or hilarious, an individual can feel quite inspired by the play. Robert Frost, a poet, is one of these individuals. He wrote a poem called “Out, Out-“, based on Act V Scene V of Macbeth. His poem is clearly inspired by the play, as it deals with similar aspects, such as death. And while Shakespeare used the language of his time in the play, Frost uses a lot of figurative language in his poem. Frost was clearly inspired by Shakespeare to write this poem, as the title is a quote from the novel and the topics are so similar. The poem by Robert Frost is almost a short story. It tells the tale of a small boy who accidentally cut off his own hand with a saw. By the time a doctor got to the scene and began to perform CPR, the boy died. Right after this line in the poem, Frost writes “And they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” This is extremely similar to Act V Scene V in Macbeth, when, after he receives word of his wife’s suicide, Macbeth says “She should have died hereafter; there would have been a time for such a word.” This shows that Macbeth didn’t even really care that his wife died because he was so concerned with being invaded by England. Coinciding with “Out, Out-“, when the boy who had his hand cut off died, everyone that was so concerned with him and everyone that tried to help save him, simply walked away and went back to what they were doing. In both the play and the poem, once death had happened, no one cared about the deceased. Robert Frost’s poem also carries a lot of figurative language, more so than in Macbeth’s soliloquy. Alliteration is used in line 3 where Frost writes “Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.” Macbeth’s soliloquy is very deep, but only uses one metaphor, where he says “Life’s but a
5/5/13
Mrs. Sepesi
Lit IV
Macbeth/Robert Frost Comparison In the play Macbeth, there are many scenes and lines that leave an impression on the reader. Whether these quotes are powerful, saddening, or hilarious, an individual can feel quite inspired by the play. Robert Frost, a poet, is one of these individuals. He wrote a poem called “Out, Out-“, based on Act V Scene V of Macbeth. His poem is clearly inspired by the play, as it deals with similar aspects, such as death. And while Shakespeare used the language of his time in the play, Frost uses a lot of figurative language in his poem. Frost was clearly inspired by Shakespeare to write this poem, as the title is a quote from the novel and the topics are so similar. The poem by Robert Frost is almost a short story. It tells the tale of a small boy who accidentally cut off his own hand with a saw. By the time a doctor got to the scene and began to perform CPR, the boy died. Right after this line in the poem, Frost writes “And they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” This is extremely similar to Act V Scene V in Macbeth, when, after he receives word of his wife’s suicide, Macbeth says “She should have died hereafter; there would have been a time for such a word.” This shows that Macbeth didn’t even really care that his wife died because he was so concerned with being invaded by England. Coinciding with “Out, Out-“, when the boy who had his hand cut off died, everyone that was so concerned with him and everyone that tried to help save him, simply walked away and went back to what they were doing. In both the play and the poem, once death had happened, no one cared about the deceased. Robert Frost’s poem also carries a lot of figurative language, more so than in Macbeth’s soliloquy. Alliteration is used in line 3 where Frost writes “Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.” Macbeth’s soliloquy is very deep, but only uses one metaphor, where he says “Life’s but a