“Out,Out-“ is a miniature dramatic narrative by Robert Frost. Frost depicts the abrupt death of a young boy whose hand has been severed by a buzz-saw. “The poem was apparently based on a true story of a boy's death whilst working in New England.”(Wikpedia) 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."
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.
