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Analysis Of Out, Out By Robert Frost

Decent Essays

Robert Frost, a famous American poet, constructs his poems with related themes. Frost addresses the limitations of man, often in relation to metaphysics and nature. At the same time, Frost takes typical daily situations and transforms them into situations of reflection, tragedy, and death. These ideas are discovered in Frost’s poems “Out, Out-” and “After Apple-Picking.” Using repetition, figurative language, and parallelism, Robert Frost captures the essence of darkness.
“Out, Out-” a poem that tells a story of a young boy doing a man's job sawing wood during the sunset in Vermont, depicts the heartlessness of the human race. Interestingly enough, the saw is introduced as a character well before the boy, seeming to have “leaped out” at the boy's hand, severely injuring the boy. The saw is being personified when described to have “snarled”, “rattled”, and “leaped,” contributing to the imagery consistent throughout the poem. “Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it” is an example of alliteration as well as olfactory imagery, giving attention to the sense of smell. Additionally, the sweet scent juxtaposes the ideas introduced later in the piece. When the boy dies of what appears to be blood loss or perhaps a bad reaction undergoing “the dark of ether,” Frost concludes the poem callously. “And they, since they / Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” This line of the poem is a very particular one, delivering a message that one must move on with their life,

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