Rock-it Poetry“Out, Out-” by Robert Frost

Jordan Thompson AP English Literature

K. Saunders 23 February 2014

“Out, out-” is from Shakespeare's

“Macbeth” “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.”

This quote is conveying the idea that everyone will die eventually and life is really just a “walking shadow” and it signifies nothing.

Frost’s choice of “Out, out-” as the title is significant because he embodies the same idea as Shakespeare in Macbeth.

Title

Buzz saw heard from the yard “Sweet-scented” gives the illusion of

happiness and sweets People who were stopped by the sweet

smell and drawn to look saw beauty in the mountain ranges and sunset

The saw snarled and rattled as it came to the end of a days work

Half an hour left that they wouldn’t give the boy

That half an hour could have saved him Half an hour can mean so much to a

young boy

Paraphrase

Sister calls the boy for supper and the saw almost

seems mad at the idea The boys hand gets caught in the saw and the boy

cries out The “life spills” from his hand The boys hand had to be taken off even though he

pleaded not to let them cut it off The boys falls into darkness and eventually his

heart stops No one made a fuss, no one cared. Everyone when

on with their affairs

Paraphrase Continued

This poem discusses issues like child labor,

and a child being forced to grow up and a loss of their innocence

Juxtaposition- Beauty vs. Violence Innocence of a child vs. reality of manhood Play vs. work

Connotation

The attitude of this poem is sad. The

author shows regret when he uses words like “I wish” and “might” and the author also uses violent and dark words such as “leaped” and “keep the life from spilling”

The speakers attitude is sad and sympathetic towards the boy who was forced to become a man and do a mans work but in the end he wasn’t rewarded or thanked for his labor, he was forgotten.

Attitude

There is a shift in language between lines

5 and 6. In the lines leading up to 5 the words that are used show beauty and serenity. “Sweet-scented” “mountain ranges” “sunset” but in line 6 a major shift in language occurs when the author describes the saw as “snarling and rattling” making it sound very aggressive

There is another shift seen when the boy is dying. The language before the boys death conveys chaos- “leaped” “swung” “spilling”- Then leading to the death the tone shifts to dark and cool- “dark of ether” “little, less, nothing” “ended”

Shifts

The theme of Shakespeare’s soliloquy

in “Macbeth” is seen throughout this poem

Death is a part of life and everything is just leading to death

Life actually “signifies nothing” Frost conveys in this poem that people

saw children as “signifying nothing” and not important as shown through the young boys death when the people just “turned to their affairs”

Title

Child Labor Sadness Loss of Innocence Life and Death Youthfulness Societal views and impact

Theme