My interpretation of “Out, Out- -“ by Robert Frost

1.) My reaction to the poem “Out, Out - -“ by Robert Frost was I was a little disturbed. At first I got the image that this was the typical country family with the father and son outside cutting some wood while the mother and daughter are making dinner. Then the sister comes outside to announce supper is ready and everyone will go inside and have a pleasant dinner. However, this is not the case because within the next four lines, the young boy gets his hand cut off and from then on the poem takes a negative and depressing tone. It was hard to tell which way the poem was going to go in the beginning because Frost makes the buzz-saw seem dangerous when he says it “snarled and rattled.” He then describes the wood the saw is cutting as being sweet-scented and goes on to talk about the landscape. Finally, he draws the reader’s attention back to the loud saw and how they should have called it a day for the boy’s sake. Overall, I think the poem was intriguing and had unique form.


2.) The one image in “Out, Out- -“ that set the tone of the entire poem was when the saw chopped off the boy’s hand in lines 16-17. It was almost as the saw were alive because Frost describes how it reacts to the announcement of supper by “leaping out at the boy’s hand.” He is giving the saw personification because he claims the saw was proving that it knew what “supper” meant by attacking the boy and cutting off his young, hardworking hand. This metaphor is essential to the poem because it give the poem meaning. Before this incident, the poem was about a quaint, innocent family getting ready to enjoy their food in their Vermont home. However, after the boy gets injured and dies, the family watches him for a moment but then they continue on with what they were doing and living their lives. The meaning behind the poem is that things happen in life that are not expected and cannot be controlled. They happen to the most innocent people and it is not fair. The boy was loyal by doing a man’s job and cutting the wood for his family. As Frost states in the poem, if only he were allowed to stop work a half hour earlier which would have let him enjoy a half an hour of childhood which he deserved as well as save his life. However, this was not the case and young boy suffered a rare death since it is not everyday that buzz-saw “leaps” towards someone as if it is intending to kill them. Finally, at the end of the poem, the family realizes what they have lost. However, since they are not dead, they need to go on living their lives they way they are supposed to until their time comes. In conclusion, Frost use this poem to show the reality of life, how it throws people unexpected curves and how to deal with them.