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Life's Brevity: Frost's 'Out, Out' Analysis

Explore Robert Frost's poem 'Out, Out' through themes, literary devices, and allusions to Shakespeare's Macbeth. Understand the significance of imagery, personification, and juxtaposition in conveying the fragility of life and the human experience.

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Life's Brevity: Frost's 'Out, Out' Analysis

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  1. Frost Analysis

  2. “Out, Out” Analysis *The title of the poem is an allusion to William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. 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: Hint: Macbeth just learned of his wife’s death. Effect: The title conveys the brevity of life. Life is short and fragile.

  3. Line 1: “The buzz saw snarled” Personification - He uses personification to make the saw come alive in the poem. “snarled and rattled” Onomatopoeia – *This portrays the harsh sounds of the saw which casts the saw in a negative light. Readers can hear what sounds the buzz saw makes, and these sounds also interrupt the tranquil setting.

  4. Imagery Examples Lines 3-6 “Sweet-scented stuff” “Five mountain ranges” “Under the sunset far into Vermont”

  5. Imagery Effect: *Gives the reader a visual (word picture) of the setting. *The setting is very peaceful, while the events are quite violent.

  6. Blank Verse Line 10: “Call it a day” Effect: Frost uses blank verse to capture every day speech. (There are many more examples!)

  7. Personification Lines 14-18 “As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,” “Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap” “Life from spilling”

  8. Personification Effect: *Frost describes the saw as if it had a mind of its own and could understand that is was time to be fed, as though the saw “eats” the boy’s hand. *Frost makes it seem like the saw cut the boy on purpose. He uses personification to make the saw come alive in the poem.

  9. Juxtaposition Line 24 “Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart” Effect: This line explains that this boy has the strength of a man but a mind of a child, so he might not be mature enough to be maneuvering a buzz saw.

  10. Allusion The title “Out, Out” is an allusion to Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Effect: It conveys the idea that life is both short and fragile.

  11. “Mending Wall” Worksheet Line 12 through Line 15: What is the effect and the significance of the repetition of the word “wall”? *Repetition of the word wall creates “walls” of lines in the poem. *Repetition emphasizes the literal and figurative wall between the neighbor.

  12. Line 16: How would you describe the rhythm of this line? Compare this line to others in terms of rhythm and meter. *The line “To each the boulders that have fallen to each” represents a brilliant move, since this is the point at which the boulder falls off the wall and the poem falls out of its previous consistent meter. *The form literally mimics the content, because here the boulder falls off the wall.

  13. Lines 17 and 18: Compare the meter of these two lines. What is the effect of the extra syllable of line 18? *Line 18 has an extra syllable. The word “balance” hangs off the line. *Again, Frost emphasizes the boulders that are off balance with the extra syllable, which is similar to Line 16.

  14. Line 22: Compare this line to Line 9 in terms of form and content. *The end of the sentence/period emphasizes the two sides of the wall. *This similar use of form also appears in Line 9 to emphasize the metaphorical barrier.

  15. Lines 27 through 34: Why does Frost use the word “offense” in Line 34. Compare the significance of the word “offense” in relation to “a fence.” *The narrator takes “offense” in “a fence,” but his play on words is lost on his literal-minded neighbor. *These lines emphasize how even the level of conversation between the speaker and neighbor is off kilter, the speaker using figurative language and the neighbor using literal meaning.

  16. Line 43: What is the meaning of this line? How is this line symbolic or metaphoric? *The “father’s saying” becomes a figurative wall between the neighbor and the speaker. *Out of unquestioned tradition, the neighbor will continue to mend the wall each spring and believe his father’s saying without questioning it as the speaker does throughout the poem.

  17. What saying does the neighbor repeat? What does this saying mean? • “Good fences make good neighbors.” • Walls define the boundaries and leave less possibility for conflict.

  18. “Mending Wall” Chart Help • http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-summary-mending-wall-robert-7464786.html?cat=42

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