There have been many interesting and appealing poems written throughout history. One of the most interesting and appealing poems is Robert Frost’s “Out, Out”. The poem has the ability to make the reader visualize an event in vivid detail without making it into a short story. The poem depicts a very dramatic scene and makes it seem as if the reader is really there. Poems are generally thought to be about love and feelings, but some poems can actually be like a short story; these are called narrative poems, which means that they tell a story. The poem “Out, Out” is a great example of a narrative poem, telling the story of a young boy cutting a tree.
Robert Frost captures one’s attention with the opening line
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Now is when the snarling buzz-saw proves its evil growl to mean something as it “leaped out of the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap” (15). Frost did not say that the boy dropped the saw or that the boy lost control of the saw, but that the saw itself leaped out of the boy’s hand of its own free will. The saw is not happy enough with its free will to leap out at the boy but it also cuts off his hand “neither refused the meeting. But the hand!” (18).
The poem now gets to the peak of its drama. The saw cut the boy’s hand off and he is desperately trying to figure out what to do “holding up the hand half in appeal, but half as if to keep the life from spilling.” (20-22). The boy is bleeding as one would expect from getting cut at a major artery at the wrist. The boy’s blood is spilling out and he is trying to keep his life from spilling out. Frost does not call it blood but he calls it the boy’s life to let you know that he is slowly dying as he bleeds more and more. The boy does not seem to know what really happened, he is in a state of shock. The boy tells his sister “Don’t let him cut my hand off—The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister! So. But the hand was already gone” (25-27). The boy did not realize that he had already lost his hand. The doctor comes and puts the boy in the “dark of ether” (28) and the doctor tried to do what he could but it was to no avail the boy
Frost uses statements like “sweet scented stuff drew across…” and compares it to the end of the poem where the boy drew his last breath, not knowing how fragile life is. He also gives personification to the saw by making it snarl and rattle in lines 1 and 7 and makes it “leap” in line 16. Frost uses phrases like “child at heart” in line 22 showing that it isn’t safe for him to be using it in the first place because it was very risky toward his life. In the poem, Frost actually makes the boy speak and say, after his hand gets cut off, “Don’t let him cut my hand off-”. Also, as diction in the poem, he uses “So.” and “No one believed.” as complete sentences to get the readers attention. As you can see, Frost’s use of diction shows the reader what’s happening during the boy’s tragedy, so they know why he regrets his
"Out, Out," by Robert Frost is a gruesomely graphic and emotional poem about the tragic end of a young boy's life. It is a powerful expression about the fragility of life and the fact that death can come at any time. Death is always devastating, but it is even more so when the victim is just a young boy. The fact that the boy's death came right before he could " Call it a day" (750) leads one to think the tragedy might have been avoided and there by forces the reader to think, "What if." This poem brings the question of mortality to the reader's attention and shows that death has no age limit.
The characters’ lost opportunities are shown in both poems, which makes their situation more of an injustice. It is discussed more in Disabled with flashes to past and present, generally alternating in a regular pattern. By juxtaposing the past and the present, he emphasises both of them. This makes the past seem more perfect and the present seem even worse, thus making the reader sympathise with the character more. For example, in the third stanza he says that there was an artist silly for his face and then, in the same stanza, he says that he has now lost his colour. This contrasts how handsome he was to now when he no longer fits the ideals of beauty, as both of the phrases are in the same syndetic field they are compared to each other. Colour is a metaphor for life/youth, as it makes the reader imagine rosy-cheeked children. This shows that he has lost his youth much like everything else was taken away from him by the war. This blood imagery links to death in both not only showing physical loss but loss of life (or life as he knew it in Disabled) much like everything else was taken away from him by the war. This is similar to how in Out, Out-; Frost describes the boy trying to keep his life from spilling. He uses life as a metaphor for the blood.
Frost uses symbolism in the word in the first line of the first stanza in ‘yellow’ of the wood. This symbolises the season autumn and the autumnal time in ones life where time is running out and decisions need to be made, this demonstrates
Frost’s poem is interesting because he uses personification and repetition in describing the saw, the saw is given life; it “snarled” and “rattled”. Frost talks about the saw as though it were a person when “as it ran light, or had to bear a load” like the saw can feel the weight of its work. The narrator depicts the scene as the saw and the boy interacting in a human way.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by
Whenever writing a poem, every author needs to have a clear and precise theme. Theme is defined as the topic being discussed or described in a piece of writing. Theme can also help set a mood for the overall feeling in a poem. Without this factor incorporated into a poem, the readers won’t be able to understand what point the author is trying to have portrayed. If your overall point in a poem is unclear, then what was the point in creating one? Both Frost and Kinnell use words that show it is important to appreciate your life; although, Frost does this by having a man dream about life being better even though he comes to accept where he is while Kinnell shows appreciation with parents loving life with their child.
Comprehending the syntax was excruciating, but after managing to understand, it made me regret reading it. This novel set my soul on fire by the tier of inconsiderate inhumanity given by the characters and this was obviously the narrator’s intention. Frost initiatively uses symbolism in the way he is referring to the saw making noises as if the boy is not operating it in the lines, “ The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard.” This is the type of symbolism that projects an ideal of what is portrayed. Introducing the hard tool before the hard worker adds to the careless effort put forth for the boy's identity. This was the first sign of thoughtless thinking shown by the author. He even inched up the nerve to feel sorry for the boy with it
Overall, Frost’s poem “Out, Out-” uses a variety of literary devices to distinguish the setting and the most thorough meaning of the poem such as imagery, diction, and several figurative language
Frost to save his son from his disease, to the inevitable death of the young boy in the poem.
Robert Frost tells a disturbing story in 'Out, Out, --', in which a little boy loses his life. The title of the poem leaves the reader to substitute the last word of the title, which some would assume would be out because of the repetition. The title is referring to the boy exiting the living world. Frost drags the reader's mind into the poem with the imagistic description of the tools and atmosphere the little boy is surrounded by.
The dramatic situation of the poem becomes apparent in the second stanza, where Frost details the main conflict between the narrator and society. Although the speaker is currently walking in a city, he is alone, “[looking] down the saddest city lane” and shunning any interactions with other people, such as “the watchman on his beat”
The poem starts with the narrator making more of an observation than a description. The speaker sees a little black thing in the snow, and the little thing is crying out “weep! ‘weep!”. This use of imagery, calling—what the reader assumes is the chimney sweeper—a person a “thing”, really tells how insignificant this sweeper is, not even worthy of having a name. The little black thing is not only the chimney sweeper, but the reader can also confirm that the sweeper is a little boy. The image of the “black” boy—most likely black because he is covered in sooth—really makes the reader sympathize, and also picture the boy in the snow. The contrast between the boy and the snow really emphasizes the dark mood of the poem. Snow often symbolizes innocence and purity; this is especially true in this poem. A child always represents purity, but in
Robert Frost has been described as an ordinary man with a deep respect for nature, talking to ordinary people. To what extent do you agree with this view?
Frost's speaker then self-consciously breaks from his realistic but metaphorically fantasied digression to say he would prefer to have some boy bend the birches, which action becomes a symbol for controlled experience, as contrasted with the genial fatality of ice storms. The boy's fancied playfulness substitutes for unavailable companionship, making for a thoughtful communion with nature, which rather than teach him wisdom allows him to learn it. Despite the insistence on the difference between ice storms' permanent damage to birches and a boy's temporary effects, the boy subdues and conquers the trees. His swinging is practice for maintaining life's difficult and precarious balances.