How does Frost create a sense of horror in his poem ‘Out, Out-‘

Frosts creates a sense of horror in his poem ‘Out, Out-‘through his use of repetition and the use of caesura and figurative speech. Frost concentrates also on the apparent innocence and passivity of the boy. "Out, Out-" is a poem by American poet Robert Frost, published in 1916. It tells the story of a young boy who dies after his hand is severed by a "saw”. This poem was apparently based on a true story. The title ‘Out, Out-‘is an allusion to William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth ‘out, out-brief candle’, it refers to how unpredictable and fragile life is like a candle is being blown out.
To begin, Personification is used in line 1 personification is used to make the buzz saw more horrifying. ‘The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard’. This creates an image of a monster, something dangerous and has a mind of its own
The use of personification continues into line 8’ as it ran or had to bear a load’ this shows the reader how destructive this buzz saw is and how effortless it is at it, this also extends the metaphor. Also in line 16 ‘leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap-’the saw is still personified and therefore adds horror to this line, the use of the word ‘at’ is emphasized here, like a vicious creature the buzz saw leaped out at the boy’s hand, making it seem like the boy lost all control and is helpless. Also the use of caesura is particularly effective in this part of the poem as it adds tension and horror, to build the atmosphere.
Frost’s use of caesura can also be seen in lines 31/32 ‘They listened at his heart Little-less-nothing! And that ended it. ‘This horrifies the reader; caesura is shown through the use of dashes, which creates a clear pause for effect. This creates a sense of slowing down; the boy’s heart rate is slowly decreasing. This shows the transition from life to death. Time has passed really quickly and now the story is over.
Frost uses the sense foreboding to create horror this is shown in line 4’and from there those that lifted eyes, could count’ hard manual labour, and those who have the time to look up aren’t the people at work but the onlookers. This is also shown in Line 10-‘Call it a day, I wish they might have said.’ This is written in the conditional tense and it has also got a sense of regret about it. Dramatic irony is also shown in this line as if they would have let the boy off with the half hour; it wouldn’t result in death for the young man. This is also shown in line 28 ‘The doctor put him in the dark of ether.’ This is foreboding towards death, ether is a painkiller and also an anaesthetic so the boy isn’t feeling pain anymore, this line also shows how far back this poem was written instead of rushing him to hospital and everything being okay the doctor only has one option and that is to put him to sleep so he doesn’t have to die painfully. This is so horrifying to the reader who is used to modern day medicine.
Frosts use of foreboding continues into line 10 ‘call It a day, I wish they might have said.’ Foreboding, something bad is going to happen. This is also written in the conditional tense and it has also got a sense of regret about it. ‘I wish They might have said’, dramatic irony is also shown here because if they did give the young man the half hour he wouldn’t of died in the end. Also in this only one syllable is used for effect.

The use of repetition is shown in line 7 ‘And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled.’ this use of repetition gives the reader a sense of time passing, ‘Snarled and Rattled’ are quite dangerous, horrific sounds like for a vicious animal before it strikes or attacks.
Frost’s simple explanations let the reader picture the image in their head. This is shown in line 18 ‘But the hand!’The use of ‘the hand’ has a heavy meaning it’s not the boy’s hand anymore it has been distanced and is now a separate object which is absolutely horrifying. Also in line 20 ‘As he swung toward them holding up the hand’ this is also quite horrific, the reader is left with gruesome imagery, like from a scene in a horror film. The hand is still separated from the boy with the use of ‘the’. Swung’ is quite an unusual word to pick, the verb ‘swung’ is quite a rigid movement, and you would expect the boy to run towards his house in a sort of despair and or scream for help, But Instead he swings round, this shows the reader how horrific this accident is and that even the boy is in total shock.
Frost’s use of explanations to create imagery continues into lines 21/22 ‘Half in appeal, but half as if to keep the life from spilling’ after the boy’s hand is nearly completely severed, he is still enough of an adult to realize that he has lost too much blood to survive. ‘He attempts to keep the life from spilling’ from his hand but even that is only an attempt, since nothing can be done, the reader is left with horrific imagery including blood, a severed hand and a disorientated young man in the middle of it all, which has an overall saddening and horrific effect on the reader
Frost’s use of contrast is also very effective. This is shown in line 19- ‘The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh.’ This is horrifying for the reader, first outcry then rueful laugh, this is a contrast. Outcry is more angry but a rueful laugh is sad it’s not even a laugh more of a chuckle. This is also shown in Line 22 ‘Then the boy saw all-’The boy goes from disorientated and in total shock to a moment of clarity, the boy understands that he has lost too much blood to survive, but instead of having a break down the simple pause at the end has a far better impact on the reader who is left with a sense of pity for this young boy, in this horrific state.
Frost’s concentration on the apparent innocence and passivity of the boy is shown in lines 24/25 ‘through a child at heart-’ this shows the boy’s inner innocence and the reader is left with a sense of sorrow for him. The noun child makes the reader feel somewhat protective, as children are seen to be defenceless facing the world, but also a sense of horror and anguish at the people who made this child work and is now bleeding to death.
Frost’s concentration continues into lines 25/26 –‘don’t let him cut my hand off-the doctor, when he comes don’t let him sister!’’ What shines out in these lines is that the boy hopes to maintain his physical dignity in his death, rather than die with a missing hand. The fact that he is telling his sister not to let the doctor cut his hand off, the boy is saying this in a desperate tone, that makes the reader overwhelmed with emotions, horrified at this young man losing his hand, again a sense of anguish arises from the reader at the people who made him do the work. The reader is also left with the sense of pity for the boy and also a sense of horror, that a young man , ‘a child at heart’ is having the horrifying prospect of losing his hand, which makes someone basically dependant on others for help.
Frost’s use of bold short sentences is shown in line 33 ‘No more to build on there ’ The narrator no longer has anything to say about the tragedy of the boy’s death. While the first twenty six lines contain elegant metaphors and descriptions of the scene, the final lines are detached and unemotional. The narrators “so” and “no more to build on there” reveal that even the narrator is unable to find an explanation for why such a young boy had to die. This is also shown in lines 33/34 ‘Since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs’. The narrator enters a state of complete detachment, most as if indifference is the only way to cope with the boy’s death. Attitudes towards death was very different in that time period, the reader is left quite shocked on this harsh view and the fact that the family just got over it with in an instant, because to them life goes on.
To conclude, I think the poem focuses on people's reactions to death, as well as the death itself, one of the main ideas being that life goes on. This poem was published in 1916 when the war was happening in Europe, I think that’s why the last line is detached and blunt, mirroring the soldier's attitude and ability to detach them from their emotions and continue killing despite the dead bodies surrounding them. It also appears to be somewhat sarcastic; Frost disapproving of our disposable attitude towards life. Frost channels the horrors already occurring on the battlefields in Europe, where death from enemy shells was automatically devoid of dignity.