The poem “Out, Out-” by Robert Frost was first published in 1916 in The Mountain Interval . The poem is “apparently based on a true story of a boy’s death whilst working in New England.” The boy in question is Raymond Fitzgerald who died in 1915. He passed away due to heart failure as he could not come to terms with the fact that his hand had been chopped off by the buzz-saw.The poem is also a statement on the war in England and Child Labour that had children attaining manhood before they even reached it.
Significance of the Title
The account, though heart-rending, is described in an objective manner by the poet. The fact that no personal comments are made on part of the poet, exemplify that he does not intend to emotionally drain the readers. Rather he intends on intellectually stimulating the readers into the inevitability of death and the futility of life. The title has been taken from Macbeth’s soliloquy in which he ruminates over the death of his wife. The hollowness and insignificance of life is hinted at in this soliloquy, by the eloquent image of the candle that mirrors the transitory nature of life:
“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.”
The sound and fury signified here is also reflected in the pandemonium created by the buzz-saw. The immaterial nihilism that the material life arrives at is signified by the word ‘nothing’. Life’s a poor player,as eventually it leads to death in spite of all its valiant efforts. It is a walking shadow that has a manifestation but possesses no solid existence.
Analysis
At the outset, the buzz-saw is shown to be snarling and rattling. The twin-sided aspects of life are echoed here. The buzz-saw at once transforms itself into the metaphor of the Giver of Life:it gives, yet it takes. The verb ‘snarled’ echoes how it is animate, yet machine-like; human, yet devoid of emotions. The verb ‘rattled” sounds the rattle of the child and the rattle of the snake: innocence and iniquity at the same time. The first three lines emphasize how this metaphor is appealing to the three major sensory perceptions, the first to the ears, the second to the vision, and the third to the olfactory sense.
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.
The tranquil scenery is contrasted against the loud noise of the machine. Science pollutes the serenity of Nature. The boy is obviously quite young for the work assigned to him. His thirst for childhood-exploits is condensed into the half-hour break that he gets; as we perceive from his sister exclaiming: “Supper.”
The gruesomeness of the situation is echoed by the irony of the understatement “saved from work.” One wonders if the poet really meant that, as the child’s wasted childhood was better being spent this way. As the child responds to his sister’s call, he carelessly drops the power-saw, and in an involuntary action of saving the power-saw cuts his hand off. The meeting of the saw with the boy’s hand was destined as “neither refused the meeting. Critics have seen the same as an expression of New England Calvinist philosophy that was prevalent during the times. The philosophy preaches that everything in the world is predetermined.His hand was given, as though to desperately save someone from sinking. The boy’s first response is “a rueful laugh” that renders the episode even more ghastly and horrific. He holds up the hand “as if to keep/ The life from spilling.” The figure of speech utilized here is metonymy; as something closely related to an aspect,is used to signify that aspect. Here, the word ‘life’ is used to denote blood.
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 boy is embittered at the incident, but is appalled at the prospect of losing his hand. Though a child at heart, the maturity forced upon him beyond years enables him to see that his life would be handicapped without his hand. He fervently pleads for it, not to cut it off as a wasted/diseased part. It is for the reason that he would never be complete again that he dies, rather than the shock of his wound. He could no longer be the Man working on the power-saw. His manhood was flawed in the process.
The last part records the reactions of the others to the predicament. They react very hard-heartedly to the turn of affairs: “And they, since they/Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” They perhaps render themselves immune to experience by finding refuge in the daily routine of life. They have an objective approach as it helps them deal with things better. As, the saying goes, experience is the greatest Teacher. And one of the lessons learnt was that Death is inevitable.The phrase “Little–less–nothing!” points to the ultimate destination of Life: Nihilism.
They listened at his heart.
Little–less–nothing!–and that ended it.
The poem thus leaves a thunderous effect on us through the subtle technique of meiosis(understatement). Harold Bloom has stated that the poem is “one of Frost’s most respected poems, but it has not received the same depth of critical attention and explication as poems such as “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening.
Symbols
The symbol of the candle is indeed significant as it stands for the brevity of life.The buzz-saw underlines the boy’s mechanical routine. The juxtaposition of the buzz-saw against the tranquil nature highlights the conflict between science and nature;culture and nature where a boy is forced to relegate his childhood that goes against Nature. The sister wearing an apron signifies the same. The handicap of the boy emblematizes the handicap of civilization that is incomplete in spite of the professed leaps made by technology. The ‘half-hour’ break symbolizes the condensation of his childhood.
Style and Technique
The poem is penned in blank verse with deviations from iambic pentameter. The poet utilizes onomatopoeia,assonance and alliteration.Frost employs imagery that assists in the narrative mode of story-telling.He adopts objectivity in tone and succeeds in stimulating the readers rather than emotionally draining them.In this sense, his method is like Brecht’s alienation technique.In “Out,Out-” , Robert Frost makes use of a contrarian style.For instance,though the poem about Life,it uses a machine to make a statement on the same.Though the poet utilizes meiosis(understatement),the subtle treatment leaves a lasting impression on the readers’ mind. Though the poet denotes,he connotes more.
References:
http://allpoetry.com/poem/8469257-Out__Out—by-Robert_Frost
Little, Michael R.; Bloom, Harold (2009). Bloom’s How to Write about Robert Frost, p. 161, Infobase Publishing, ISBN 9781604133479.
