Out, Out
By Robert Frost
The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside him in her apron
To tell them ‘Supper.’ At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—
He saw all spoiled. ‘Don’t let him cut my hand off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!’
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
Summary of Out, Out
- Popularity of “Out, Out”: Written by the American poet laureate, Robert Frost, this short and beautiful poem first appeared in 1916. McClure Magazine had the honor to publish this popular poem of Frost. However, when Frost included it in his collection, Mountain Interval, it won further popularity. The main reason behind it is the thematic idea of how a young boy, considered quite equal to a man, dies due to careless usage of labor on saws.
- “Out, Out” As a Representative of Forced Child Labor: The poet presents a boy working on a saw in a village in Vermont. The boy is exactly of the age where adulthood and boyhood meet and confuse the people and working at times when such labor was common in the field. Therefore, when the sister of the boy came to call him for supper, he immediately leaped out of the saw-setting to take it, caring little about his work, situation, and environment. It happened that the boy touched the saw and it injured his hand so much so that it was to be amputated though earlier the boy did not realize the enormity of the injury nor others were much concerned. They only consoled him when he was with the doctor that it would be all right. However, due to excessive bleeding, the boy breathed his last when he was with the doctor. But the situation was that nobody paid much attention to him or his family and continued with the work.
- Major Themes in “Out, Out”: Forced labor, using boys at low wages, excessive hours of work, the routine of work, and callousness in work are major themes of the work. Although the poet has not touched some of the themes such as excessive hours and low wages, they are implicit within the given text when the poet states that the boy is touching adulthood yet he is a boy and is being used in the setting considered dangerous for such teenagers. That is why it is a sort of forced labor using boys or teenagers. It was common during the times of Robert Frost and he commented on such incidents without feeling the tinge of capitalistic domineering. Yet, the irony, the callousness of the system, and the coercion underlying such activities are apparent as the routine continues after the death of the boy with excessive bleeding. This points to the innocence of the poet that instead of directly commenting upon it, he just shows the routine.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Out, Out
Robert Frost used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices the poet uses are as follows.
- Allusion: It means to allude to some event or figure of specific significance. The poem has alluded to Vermont, a state of the United States.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard” and the sound of /o/ in “And from there those that lifted eyes could count.”
- Alliteration: It means to use initial consonant sounds in two or more consecutive words. The poem shows the use of alliteration, such as the sound of /s/ in “Sweet-scented stuff” or again in “stove-length sticks” or yet again in “saw snarled.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /r / in “Under the sunset far into Vermont” and the sound of /s/ in “As if to prove saws knew what supper meant.”
- Enjambment: This device is used to show the rolling over of a verse into the next without a pause. The poem shows the use of enjambment, such as;
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Robert Frost used imagery in this poem, such as “Five mountain ranges one behind the other”, “And nothing happened: day was all but done” and “His sister stood beside him in her apron.”
- Irony: This device shows the use of words other than their actual meanings. The poem shows irony in the last verse, where despite having a dead person with them, the routine of the people continues.
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet has used the metaphors of life, equaling it to something liquid.
- Personification: It means to attribute human emotions to inanimate objects. The poet has used the personification of the buzz saw that shows its emotions and life by snarling and rattling.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols such as saw, sticks, scented stuff, sunset, load, and supper to show the situation of labor.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Out, Out
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal, poetic, and depressive diction.
- Free Verse: It means to write poetry without any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. This poem is a free verse poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This is a single-stanza poem having thirty-four verses.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows an indifferent, tragic, and ironic tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the irony of working in factories.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
