OUT OUT - by Robert Frost
Theme:
Describing how a __________ died doing a man’s work and the poet __________ against the
__________ of child labour.
Type:
Lyric
STRUCTURE:
1. The poem which consists of 34 lines is divided into __________ stanzas
BACKGROUND
1. The title is taken from the __________ play ‘Macbeth’ in which the king on __________ of his wife’s death thinks deeply on the __________ of man’s life which he compares to a short length of
__________ that is soon burnt out.
“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.”
2. The setting of the poem is a __________ in which a buzz saw (a circular saw so called for the sound it makes) was used to saw logs in to __________.
Line 1-6
As the __________(a man whose work it is to saw wood) were sawing wood in the timberyard the buzz-saw snarled and rattled, raising a cloud of __________, while stove-lenghts of firewood
__________ at the end.
Snarl: animal sound. Low, __________ sound while showing the teeth.
The freshly-sawn wood gave off a __________ scent as the breeze blew over it.
If one looked up one would see five __________ ranges the one behind the other, stretching far into Vermont in the __________ glow of the setting sun.
Note 1: A) The poet describes the __________ and action in a calm OBJECTIVE way, using
__________ language.
This increases the horror of the tragedy when it does occur.
B) The buzz-saw snarled and rattled.....
(1) In the very first line of the poem the word ‘SNARL’ __________ the saw as a __________ of violence and a cause of possible danger.

(2) The word RATTLE also __________ an ominous (showing that something unpleasant or evil might happen) note: the saw __________ whenever it was running free.
The circular saw blade was mounted on a saw bench on which the wood was __________ as it was
__________ towards the sawblade.
Evidently this bench was old and __________. The saw blade, too, was not mounted properly. That was why the whole __________ rattled __________ the blade was running free.
C) “....SWEET-SCENTED stuff....”
This an example of IRONY - the clean sweet smell of the sawn wood contrasts sharply with the dusty, diry yard of the sawmill.
D) “....FIVE MOUNTAIN RANGES .... Far into Vermont.”
The peacefulness and beauty of the rural surroundings also form a sharp ANTITHESIS (contrast) to the uproar of the sawmill
Lines 7-9
The saw continued keening while it was cutting through a log and __________ as it was running free. And nothing unusual had __________ all day: everything was a dull routine, and the sun was close to setting, a sign that the work-day was __________ to end.
Note 2 A) “And the SAW SNARLED and RATTLED, SNARLED and RATTLED...”
Not the __________(suggesting something bad is going to happen) REPETITION of the words
__________ DANGER
B) “And NOTHING had HAPPENED: DAY WAS ALL BUT DONE...”
The facts that:
(1) The day had __________ ROUTINELY and UNEVENTFULLY, and,
(2) the long, hard working-day was __________ over, are important.
They form the __________ background for something __________ to happen: fatigue, hunger, every action being mechanical and routinely dull.
Lines 10-12
At this stage the __________ becomes SUBJECTIVE: he gives his opinion.
He wishes that __________ might have ordered them to stop working for the day. That would have pleased the boy and __________ him half an hour to play.
Note 3 A) “CALL IT A DAY, I WISH they MIGHT HAVE SAID...”
By __________ in on the tale to express the boy’s __________ wish in his own words, the poet stresses the fact that the boy was a mere child. In this way he __________ the sense of
__________ tragedy.
Wearing her apron, the boy’s sister came to stand __________ the workmen clustered around the saw to __________ them to supper.

At her call the saw blade __________ to leap out of its mountings, as if it whished to show that sawblades knew what the __________‘supper’ meant.
The blade __________ to leap at the boy’s hand and he seemed to hold out his hand to meet the saw - whatever had happened, neither the hand nor the saw __________ the meeting and so the saw __________ off the boy’s hand at the wrist.
Note 4. “At the WORD, the SAW AS if to PROVE...
LEAPED OUT...
He MUST HAVE GIVEN the hand...
NEITHER REFUSED THE MEETING...
BUT THE HAND!”
A) The young boy was __________ and very hungry - he had had to do a man’s work all day long: he was given the most __________ task of all - he had to hold the length of wood on the saw bench and puch it in on the saw blade.
His sister’s call to supper __________ his attention for that fatal part of a second whn he was about to feed a length of wood into the saw and his hand came in __________ with the blade itself.
It may be interpreted that the saw __________ tore loose from its mountings at that particular moment (it had RATTLED all day) and in so __________ severed (cut off) the boy’s hand.
B) Note the sustained IRONY and PATHOS in these linesL the saw blade wanted to ‘PROVE (that)
SAWS KNEW WHAT SUPPER MEANT’ . It ‘LEAPED OUT AT THE BOY’S HAND’; the boy MUST
HAVE GIVEN or held out his hand TO THE SAW, because NEITHER the saw NOR the boy
REFUSED the meeting.
Note the tone of PATHOS (the quality in an event that fills the reader with pity and sympathy) and
tender __________ in the poet’s shocked exclamation: “BUT THE HAND”
PART TWO
Lines 19-28
The boy’s first reaction was a __________ laugh. He swung towards the onlookers, holding up the hand, as if he were appealing the them to help him. Or he might have tried to keep the blood from pouring out of the __________ wound.
Suddenly the boy seemed to realize the tragic __________ of the accident. As he was a big boy who had been doing a man’s work for a long time, he was mature __________ to understand that his life was ruined.
On the other hand, he was stilla __________ at heart. So he begged his sister not to let the doctor amputate (cut off) his __________ when he came.

The poet’s comments with tender __________ that the boy’s hand had already been cut off. When the doctor came he __________ the boy with ether.
Note 5. A) “The boy’s first OUTCRY was a RUEFUL LAUGH
As he SWUNG toward them HOLDING UP THE HAND...”
Rueful: showing that one is sorry about __________ one has done.
The boy’s immediate reaction was one of __________ surprise and he lauged in an embarressed way.
The boy held UP THE HAND: __________ the IRONIC CONTRADICTION between lines 25 and
27 : Line 25 -‘DON’T let him CUT MY HAND OFF” and line 27 “But the hand WAS GONE
ALREADY.”
B) “Then the boy SAW ALL...
He SAW ALL SPOILED...
His working hand was a vital part of his life: he was a __________ and had to earn a living by using his hands.
C) “BIG BOY DOING A MAN’S WORK, THOUGH A CHILD AT HEART...”
The poet stresses the boy’s youthful nature and this __________ the sense of the tragedy.
Lines 29-34
The unconscious boy breathed deeply and __________. Then the person who sat with him checked his pulse and suddenly __________ frightened as the beat of his pulse suddenly weakened. They could not believe it when his heart gradually beat __________ until it stopped altogether.
In this way the boy’s life came to an __________(sudden) and tragic end. His body and his mind would not develop any further. And theother men were __________ that it was not they who had died and each __________ to his own affairs.
Note 6: A) “... And that ENDED IT.”
The boy died because he had lost the will to live.
To this we must add the great amount of blood that he had lost before the doctor arreved and the effect of the anaesthetic.
Together with the __________ shock of his horrible wound, the __________ mental shock of the emptiness and helplessness of his __________ life also contributed to his death.
B) “And THEY, since THEY were not the one dead, turned to THEIR affairs.”
Were the boy’s fellow-workers __________ indifferent to his accident and his sudden inexplicable death?

They all worked in the same __________ circumstances. They were shocked by the boy’s violent and tragic death. It was only by doing their __________ end-of-the-day tasks that they could escape from the __________ of it all.
C) In general this poem is an __________ against the cruelty and injustice of child labour: this young boy, although big for his age perhaps, was still a child at heart who would have preferred playing to working __________ dawn to dark.
Answers to questions:
1.
Lyric
2.
Describing how a boy died doing a man’s work and the poet protesting against the injustice of child labour.
3.
Life is as short as a candle burning. Life is vulnerable like a candle. A candle dies easily and so a person can also die easily.
4.
A sawmill in which a buzz saw is used to saw logs into firewood.
5.
Snarled, rattled, dropped stove lengths of wood, and raised a cloud of sawdust.
6.
Snarl - the saw is dangerous like a animal bearing it’s teeth ready to bite
Rattle - the saw is old and not fitted properly.
7a. A sweet smell.
7b. The clean sweet smell of the sawn wood contrasts sharply with the dusty, dirty yard of the sawmill.
8a. Five mountain ranges.
8b. The peaceful scene forms a contrast with the noise of the sawmill.
9. Snarl and rattle
10a. Nothing strange happened, the long day was almost over. They did not break.
10b. They form the perfect background for something untoward to happen: fatigue, hunger, every action being mechanical and routinely dull.
11. He wishes that somebody might have ordered them to stop working for the day.
12. It would have pleased the boy because he would have had half an hour to play.
13. Subjective.
14. She came to stand beside the clustered workmen. (b) She called them for supper.
15a) The saw blade seemed to leap out of its mounting as if it was going to eat the boy’s hand. 15b) The boy seemed to hold out his hand to meet the saw and it was cut off.
16. The boy’s arm was cut off.
17. The saw blade tore loose from the mountings at that particular moment and in so doing cut off the hand of the boy.
18. Pathos
19. He laughed sorrowfully.
20. He is sorry for what he has done.
21. He held up his bleeding arm as if asking the people to help him.
22. He asked for help, he wanted to prevent the blood from pouring out.
23. The tragic consequences of the accident.
24. They refer to this child doing a man’s work. He is a child doing a man’s work.
25. His future is destroyed.
26. She must not let the doctor cut off his hand.
27. He doesn’t want his hand to be cut off BUT it is already cut off by the saw.
28a) He gave the boy anaesthetics.
28b) There is only a thin line between darkness and unconsciousness and death.
29. Deeply and irregularly.
30. The beat of the pulse weakened.
31. The slower pulse of the heart and the death of the boy.

32a) His death ended the terrible life he would have lived with only one hand.
32b) He lost the will to live, loss of blood, shock, lack of good treatment, the anaesthetic.
33. The boy has no more future, he is dead.
34a) They continued with their daily chores, they cleaned the saw.
34b) There was nothing they could do. Life goes on and maybe they were shocked by the death of the boy.