'OUT, OUT-'by Robert FrostAmerican Poet

Theme:Describing how a boy died doing a man's work and the poet protesting against the injustice of child labour.

Type:Lyric

STRUCTURE:1. The poem which consists of 34 lines is

divided into two stanzas

BACKGROUND1. The title is taken f rom the Shakespearina play

'Macbeth' in which the king on hearing of his wif e's death thinks deeply on the shortness of man's lif e which

he compares to a short length of candle that is soon burnt out.

"Out, out, brief candle!Lif e's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and f rets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no

more."

Line 1The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard

The setting is Vermont. The story takes place at a sawmill where a circular saw is used to cut wood.

Snarled: this word shows that the saw is as dangerous as an animal bearing its teeth.

Rattled: this words shows that the saw is old. It does not run smoothly anymore.

Line 2

And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,

The saw made a lot of dust. This dust forms a contrast with the beautiful view they have of the mountain ranges. The workplace is noisy and dusty.

Alliterations: dust and dropped.

Line 3

Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.

The wood had a sweet smell.

Irony: the sweet smell of the wood forms a sharp contrast with the dusty and dirty saw yard. You do not expect anything sweet in this environment.

Alliteration: sweet-scented stuff

Line 4-5

And from there those that lifted eyes could count

Five mountain ranges one behind the other

Under the sunset far into Vermont

From the yard you see mountain ranges. This is a beautiful place. It is at the end of the day, the sun is setting. You have people working while the sun is setting.

Antithesis The beautiful view forms a sharp contrast with the noise of the saw and the dust surrounding the workers.

Line 7-9

And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled an rattled,

As it ran light, or had to bear a load.

And nothing happened: day was all but done.

Repetition: The repetition of snarled and rattled shows you that the saw is busy the whole time. It also suggests that something dangerous is going to happen.

Ran light: when there is no wood in the saw

Bear a load: when the saw is cutting a piece of wood

Nothing happened: this was boring and monotonous work. They did the same thing for the whole day.

Day was all but done: maybe something will still happen before the day is over, although it is already sunset.

Line 10-12

Call it a day, I wish they might have said

To please the boy by giving him the half hour

That a boy counts so much when saved from work.

Call it a day: The poet interrupts his description with his own subjective opinion.

He wishes they let the boy stop with work a half hour before stopping time so that the boy can play a little bit.

The boy has no time to play and playtime is precious to every boy/child.

He emphasizes that the boy is only a child which will heighten the tragedy of this poem.

Line 13-14

His sister stood beside him in her apron

The tell them ‘Supper’….

The sister is also working. She must do all the housework, she must make dinner etc. The word apron tells you she is working in the house. Supper is written in quotation marks because it is the actual word the sister said.

She arrives to call the workers that supper is ready.

Line 15-18

…At the word, the saw,

As if to prove saws knew what summer meant,

Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—

He must have given the hand….

Personification: the saw becomes something that understands words. When the word ‘supper’ was said, it came loose and jumped at the boys hand.

It seemed as if the boy gave his hand to the saw.

The word leap links with the word snarl earlier. The saw is like an animal that jumps at the boy’s hand.

Line 17-18

….However it was,

Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!