Edexcel English IGCSE: Out, Out- by Robert Frost

In “Out, Out –”, Frost builds tension to prepare the reader for an accident; the speed with which the accident occurs shows how easily such things can happen. The unemotional reactions of the other people in the poem remind the reader of the fragility of life.

During the first half of the poem, Frost hints at something terrible which might occur. The title of the poem is from a quotation from Macbeth about the brevity of life. For those familiar with this play, the title encourages consideration of how life can be extinguished as easily as a candle. The fierce personification of the saw also creates tension and hints at a violent incident ahead: “the buzz saw snarled and rattled”. Further increasing the tension, Frost hints at regret: “I wish they might have said” that the boy could stop work. Although there is no suggestion at this stage that the accident will be fatal, the build-up of tension prepares the reader for a terrible outcome.

The accident itself is described quickly, suggesting the ease with which such serious incidents can occur. The saw is personified again: it “leaped out at the boy’s hand”, like an animal. By blaming an inanimate object, Frost shows that nobody can be blamed. The line “neither refused the meeting” is a euphemistic description of the painful impact of the violent saw with the innocent hand, reflecting the ease with which the accident occurred. The reader then learns that the accident will be fatal: the use of the word “life” instead of “blood” in the line, “to keep / The life from spilling”, suggests that his life is being poured away. The boy’s death is quick, described in just three words about his diminishing heartbeat: “Little – less – nothing!”. The speed of this description shocks the reader, as his death seems so easy.

The reactions of others encourage further reflection on the fragility of life. The death is described casually, with colloquial phrases such as “that ended it” and “no more to build on there”. This casual attitude shows how easily life can end, and also shows that, to these people at least, death is a normal part of life. This impression is confirmed when the people return to their work at the end of the poem: no time is spent on grieving, which suggests that death is neither surprising nor dramatic, but something that could happen to anyone at any time. This attitude might be shocking to the reader, but highlights the fact that in dangerous contexts such as this, people’s grasp on life is particularly fragile.

The poem begins with a young boy at work, and by the end of the poem, the boy is dead and everybody else has continued as normal. This simplicity is utterly tragic, and reminds the reader that life can be easily extinguished.

Edexcel English IGCSE: Out, Out- by Robert Frost

In “Out, Out –”, the writer portrays farming life as difficult and tedious, in which even children must work. The accident highlights the dangers inherent in such work. The farming people’s reactions to the boys’ death can be interpreted in various ways.

This poem shows the hardships which farming people have to endure. The violence of the saw is portrayed through personification and onomatopoeia: “snarled and rattled”. It is a symbol of the difficulty and danger of the work that farming people have to do. Even children have to do physical work: the young boy is “doing a man’s work”, and his sister is wearing an apron, implying that she has been working in the house. This work takes place in the beautiful surroundings of the American countryside, but the poet implies that they are working too hard to recognise and appreciate it: only “those that lifted eyes” would see the mountain ranges and sunset, suggesting that few of them can even take the time to remove their focus from their work.

The fatal accident shows how dangerous this physical labour can be. The boy injures his hand, and holds it up to stop “the life from spilling”. The use of the word “life” instead of “blood” alerts the reader to the potentially life-threatening nature of the injury. The boy himself also recognises the severity of the incident: “the boy saw all”. The word “boy” reminds us of the youth of the victim, and shows that in farming communities, even young children are aware of the dangers of their work. There is poignant tension between the youth and innocence of the child and the horrific situation: he is “old enough” to know that he is in danger, and yet his appeal for help is tragically childish in its repetition and fragmentation. This shows that farming children have to grow up before their time.

The observers’ reaction to the fatal accident appears callous, but also reflects the hardship of their lives. The poet adopts casual and informal language to describe the boy’s death: “that ended it” and “no more to build on there”. We sense that these are the voices of the other people, and imply that his death is not particularly significant. The poem ends with everybody returning to their work, as if the accident had not even happened. Although we can interpret this lack of emotional reaction as callous, it may also be a comment on the frequency of such incidents. Perhaps the observers do not invest emotionally in the incident, because they recognise the fragility of their attachment to life.

Farming life is portrayed in the poem as cruel and challenging, especially for vulnerable and innocent children. The violent death of the child is appalling for the reader, but for the farming people, it is perhaps less shocking and less unusual.

Edexcel English IGCSE: Out, Out- by Robert Frost

The tragedy of the child’s death in “Out, Out –” lies in the accident’s preventability. There is also terrible poignancy in the apparent insignificance of the fatal accident, as the other people in the poem seem not to react as emotionally as we might expect.

The writer brings out the tragedy of the boy’s death by hinting at what he could have been doing instead of working with dangerous equipment. Frost describes the beautiful natural surroundings: “five mountain ranges” are nearby, suggesting that this would be a good place for a child to play. Instead, the boy is working with a violent, ugly saw which “made dust”: an ugly addition to the otherwise idyllic scene. The writer reflects on how the accident could have been avoided if he had been “saved from work” a little earlier. The use of the word “saved” is particularly poignant, since being “saved” from work would have resulted in saving his life.

Timing is everything. The accident takes place at the very end of the day: there was a sunset, and the poet states that “day was all but done”. This shows how close the boy was to safety. Ironically, it is the very word which should have ceased the boy’s work – “Supper” – which prompts the accident to happen. It is at this word that the saw “leaped out at the boy’s hand”. The saw is personified here, which avoids an accurate description of the accident; it reflects the speed with which the fatal injury occurred. The closeness of the child to freedom and safety brings out the tragedy of the boy’s death.

The boy’s reaction to his injury is a tragic combination of childish and adult. Like a child, he laughs at first, as if he hasn’t fully understood, and he holds up his hand towards the others, as if hoping that they can make it better. However, he then undergoes the heart-rending realisation that the situation is very serious: “the boy saw all”. The assonance and monosyllables in this phrase slow the pace of the poem, reflecting the gravity of the injury, and the slow realisation of the boy that his life might be in danger. The poet is reticent about the reactions of others at this crucial moment of the boy’s panic. Even the reactions to the boy’s shocking death are surprisingly understated: “that ended it” and “no more to build on there” are colloquial phrases, suggesting a casual attitude to the death. This is particularly sad, as it suggests that such deaths are not infrequent.

For the reader, the death of the child is unspeakably tragic, particularly because the boy should not have been working in the first place, and because he was so close to safety. There is also great poignancy in the observers’ resigned attitude to the death.

Edexcel English IGCSE: Out, Out- by Robert Frost

The young boy in “Out, Out –” is the victim of a horrible accident. The reader feels sympathy for the boy before the accident, as he is too young to be doing such physical labour, and even after his death, which seems to go almost unnoticed.

The reader feels sorry for the boy before the accident, due to the adult nature of his work. The saw that the boy is using is presented as violent and horrible. The phrase “snarled and rattled” is repeated; the personification and onomatopoeia make the saw sound like a noisy, violent animal, which is inappropriate for a child. Frost references the boy’s desire for a break with a wistful and regretful tone, which reminds the reader that the accident could have been avoided. The poignant lines, “big boy / Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart”, further emphasise this message: here, the writer highlights the conflict between the child’s essential innocence and the way in which he has been forced to grow up before his time.

When the accident occurs, the reactions of others are somewhat surprising, and further evoke sympathy for the young victim. In the description of the accident itself, Frost does not refer to any other people; we might expect his fellow workers to rush to his aid, but instead the implication is that the boy struggled alone, with nobody answering his “appeal”. The boy cries out to his sister, begging her not to allow the doctor to cut off his hand. Frost does not refer to any words of comfort, implying that they were not given. Instead, immediately following this pathetic appeal is a short, abrupt sentence: “So.” This reflects the observers’ practical and seemingly uncaring attitude to the accident. The loneliness of the boy in his moment of need make him eminently pitiable.

The death of the boy is tragically quick. The description of his diminishing pulse – “Little – less – nothing!” – reflects his rapid decline into death. The language is simple, and the exclamation mark expresses the observers’ surprise that he could die quite so quickly. The reader, too, is drawn into this shock. Whilst the reader is likely to be upset by the death, the poet captures the observers’ reactions with colloquial expressions, making the death seem almost casual and unimportant: “that ended it” and “no more to build on there”. In the final line of the poem, where we might expect a reflection on the boy’s death, the others simply return to their work. This frustrates the reader and makes them pity the boy, whose death is frustratingly unmarked.

The boy’s vulnerability and innocence contrasts pitifully with the adult work he is doing, and the unemotional resignation of those he lives and works with. The reader pities him when he is alive, and regrets the apparent insignificance of his death.

Edexcel English IGCSE: Out, Out- by Robert Frost

“Out, Out –”  portrays a tragic event in which a young boy loses his life in a terrible accident. Throughout the poem, the writer builds tension to prepare the reader for an awful event, and the accident itself is described with shocking drama.

From the beginning of the poem, the saw is portrayed as alarming, which implies that it might do something violent. The repetition of the onomatopoeic description, “snarled and rattled” is ominous, particularly when it is repeated twice on one line, increasing the pace of the poem. The word “snarled” personifies the saw, making it sound as though it is an angry animal. This personification is also evident in the lines “made dust and dropped stove-length sticks”: it suggests that the saw is doing the work itself. The writer engages the reader’s sense of hearing with the alliteration of ‘d’ and ‘s’ on this line. The onomatopoeia and alliteration throughout the beginning of the poem reflect the noisiness of the saw. Through the extended personification, the saw is presented as an ominous character with evil intent.

The writer creates tension as he builds up to the description of the accident. The peacefulness and beauty of the surroundings is incongruous with the violence of the saw. The harsh sounds used to describe the saw are in tension with the gentle sibilance used to describe the natural setting: “Sweet-scented stuff”. The tension is temporarily released with the line, “And nothing happened”. This anti-climax provides some relief to the reader, but this is quickly undermined when the writer introduces an element of regret: “I wish they might have said” that the boy could stop work. The introduction of the first person voice here shows the strength of the writer’s regret, and reveals to the reader that something awful is going to happen to the boy. The tension exists in not knowing what exactly will happen.

The description of the accident itself is very dramatic. The exclamation, “But the hand!”, is sudden, inducing surprise and shock. It brings the reader’s attention from the explanation of what happened to the terrible consequences of the accident. The severity of the incident is heightened with the image of “life” which is “spilling” from his hand. By using the word “life” instead of “blood”, the writer hints that the accident could life-threatening.  The boy’s speech contributes to the drama of the situation. His speech is fragmented and urgent, with the repetition of “Don’t let him” showing his increasing desperation. This evokes sympathy for the boy, and captures his terror.

The boy’s death is described with simplicity and a striking lack of drama. Contrasting the drama and tension of the build-up, the boy’s life seems to slip away quietly and without incident. This contrast captures the fragility of life, which is one of the key messages of the poem.