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=**"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, 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 them in her apron To tell them 'Supper.' At the word, the saw, As if to proved 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.

“A poem is never a put-up job, so to speak. It begins as a lump in the throat, as sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It is never a thought to begin with. It is at its best when it is a tantalizing vagueness. It finds its thought and succeeds; or doesn’t find it and comes to nothing.”

~Robert Frost

=Interview with Robert Frost = media type="file" key="out out.m4a"

=Analytical Paragraphs =

Robert Frost's poem "Out, Out-" is unemotional. The poem tells a sad story about a boy dying, however no emotion is shown at all. "Five mountain ranges one behind the other/Under the sunset far into Vermont." (Frost 5-6) Here he talks about landscapes and the sunset. He doesn't mention the beauty of it which is unusual because that is one thing that inspires him. He is so blunt about a topic that he loves. "As he swung toward...out with his breath." (Frost 20-29) In this part of the poem, the boy realizes his hand is cut off, the family sees, and the doctor comes. Again there is no emotion and he is blunt. He could have said the boy was terrified and his family was horrified but he didn't. The last example is in the last two lines. "And they...to their affairs." The people in the poem show no grief or any remorse for this boy who has just died. They appeared not to care. From these examples one can see that there isn't any emotion in this poem. ~ Megan Harvey

“Out, Out-“ is a poem written by Robert Frost. The poem describes a boy losing his hand to a saw and then dying. The poem is very sad. I believe that it represents depression. Throughout the poem things seem to get worse and worse. Frost starts out talking about the things around that are good, such as the mountains described in lines 5 and 6 where he says, “Five mountain ranges one behind the other under the sunset far into Vermont.” As the poem goes on, events occur that are quite upsetting. First he loses his hand in line 15; “He must have given the hand.” He next dies. After he dies, the family shows no emotion but just gets to work on his funeral and what not. The way Frost has such a gloomy outlook on everything leads a reader to believe the poem stands for depression. Before the boy’s hand is cut off he begs his sister to not lose it. A person experiencing depression might go through the same thing. They might beg to get out, but are unable to conquer their goal. “Out, Out-“ is an interesting poem that exuberates the characteristics of depression. ~Claire Teson



= Narrative Poem =

CHARACTERS • The boy • The sister • The doctor • The watcher • The buzz saw

SETTING The poem takes place in the yard. In the distance a spectator can see five mountains. It is at the end of the day.

PLOT 1. The boy is sawing wood for fire in the yard. 2. His sister calls him for supper. 3. Accident occurs where his hand is sawed off. 4. Boy turns to face them showing his hand. 5. Realizes it’s missing. 6. Tells his sister to not let the doctor cut it off when he comes. 7. Doctor puts him in ether. 8. Watcher warns the rest about the slowing pulse. 9. He dies. 10. They leave and go back to their business because they aren’t the one dead.

=Title =

The title of this poem is “Out, out-.“ It does not seem to directly relate to the actual poem. The poem describes a boy loosing his hand and dying. The title does not give any specific indication of how the poem will go. The poem could take any turn with that title, and Robert Frost does not reveal anything in his title.

= POETIC DEVICES = • Personification: 1-2, 7, 14-16 • Irony: 25-27 • Metaphor: 23-24 • Oxymoron: 8 • Allusion: sister, Vermont • Allegory: This poem relates to a tragic event in his life. It’s interesting how at he end of the poem, the rest of the characters simply continue what they were doing. I think this may be related to an event in real life. Something that unordinarily happened surprisingly. The fact that they all just moved shows how he feels in life (while writing this). He’s been through so much turmoil that he has just learned or possibly grown accustomed to moving on. There is no grief at the end or anywhere in this poem. In real life he shows no grief.

= SYMBOLISM = 1. The saw. The saw may represent death or an event that occurred in his life that had a big impact on him. It could have been something that happened suddenly and unexpectedly, just like this saw accident. 2. “Supper.” This word may represent a command that the saw ‘understood’ to ‘jump’ when his sister said it in the poem. To relate this to real life, it could stand for something that triggered a dramatic event.





=FORM =

The poem's form is unique. There are no stanzas, and no individual sections. Frost uses free verse. This adds to the meaning of the poem because he's upset, so he's not fully collected. It shows that this poem touches a rough subject.

=IMAGERY =

1)Sight -Lines 5, 6, and 20

2)Sound -Lines 1, 7, 14, 19, 25, and 26

3)Touch -Lines 15, 16, 17, and 18

4)Smell - Line 3

5)Taste -(none)