Analysis of Style

Frost begins the poem by describing a young boy cutting some wood using a buzz-saw. The
setting is Vermont and the time is late afternoon. The sun is setting and the boy's sister calls
him to come and eat supper. As the boy hears its dinner time he gets excited and cuts his hand
by mistake. Realising that the doctor might cut his hand off because of this, he immediately
asks his sister to make sure that does not happen. By the time the doctor arrives it is too late
and the hand is already lost. When the doctor gives him anesthetic, the boy falls asleep never
to wake up again. The last sentence of the poem which states that "since they [the boys family
and the doctor] were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" shows how although the boy’s
death is tragic, people move on with their life.

Frost uses different stylistic devices throughout his poem. He is very descriptive using things
such as imagery and personification to express what he wants to say. Frost uses imagery when
he describes the setting of the place - a boy sawing some wood. He tells his readers the boy is
standing outside by describing the visible mountain range, and sets the time of day by saying
that the sun is setting. Frost gives his readers an image of the boy feeling pain by using
contradiction words such as "rueful" and "laugh" and by using powerful words such as "outcry".
He also describes the blood coming from the boy's hand as life that is spilling. To show how the
boy is dying, Frost gives his readers an image of the boy breathing shallowly by saying that he is
puffing his lips out with his breath. When talking about the saw, Frost uses personification and
repetition. Personification is seen when he says that at times it can run light and at others it has
to bear a load, talking as if the saw was a person which had to carry something. Repetition is
used to help build an image of the saw's movements where the words "snarled and rattled" are
repeated several times throughout the poem to display an image of the saw moving back and
forth. While Frost uses iambic pentameter for the rhythm, he uses blank verse for the rhyme.
His variation in the lengths of his sentences almost reflects the boy's life for when the boy is still
alive and healthy, the lengths of Frost's sentences are much longer then they are when the boy
is dying.

The poem's title, "Out, Out-" is taken from the Shakespearean play Macbeth where the main
character, Macbeth, speaks after he is told that his wife is dead. Using a simile to compare Lady
Macbeth's death to a candle which is blown out he says "Out, out, brief candle!." Both Lady
Macbeth's death and the death of the young boy from Frost's poem are tragedies. They are
both about people whose lives come to an end before it is their time to die, before they've lived
a long life and aged to die a natural death. Comparing them to a candle is suitable because just
like a candle's light can go in a matter of seconds caused by a simple blow, their lives ended in a
matter of seconds. A candle which leaves darkness once it is not shining any longer can be
compared to the darkness left in the hearts of the families of Lady Macbeth and of the boy after
their death. Saying "brief candle" clearly compares to the boy, who dies before he even gets the
chance to reach manhood. Another comparison that can be made between Lady Macbeth and
the boy, is the way that after their deaths, their surroundings move on and go back to their
regular routine. In Macbeth, Macbeth continues his fight for the Kingdom and in "Out, Out-" the
doctor and the boy's family get back to their affairs. This helps prove Macbeth's words when he
says "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.", because he is saying that life is brief and meaningless. The boy's quick death shows
how life can be short, and the way everyone got back to their businesses shows how life is
meaningless, how when one is gone it does not make that much of a difference. Although it is
clear to see that there is an allusion between the two pieces, it is not needed to read one in
order to understand the other.

It is Frost's style of writing that makes his readers feel as if they are part of the poem, as if the
events in the poem are truly taking place and the readers are merely people who are standing
by and watching it all. It is his writing which allows him to make an allusion between the story
of a tragic boy and the story of a tragic hero. It is his writing which makes his poem so unique.