Stefanie Clinton
Title
 The quote “Out, Out –” is from Shakespeare’s
“Macbeth” given by the primary character, Macbeth.
 Macbeth says this in his soliloquy in Act V. He discusses
the “illusion” of life, stating, “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.” He later goes on to say that it “[signifies]
nothing”.
Paraphrase
 A buzz saw is heard from the yard and the scenery appears
to be beautiful. The speaker wishes that “they” would have
let “the boy” stop his work for a break, which he so
hopefully yearned for. The boy’s sister told him to come
inside for dinner. Suddenly, the saw attacked the boy’s
hand. The boy laughed ruefully and showed “them” his
bloody, torn hand. The boy, who was truly a man at heart
due to all the work that was forced upon him, understood
what was going to happen. He pleaded that his sister would
not let the doctors cut his hand off but it might as well have
been off already. The boy was anesthetized and soon died.
After that, there was nothing else for “them” to do but
return to their affairs, unharmed.
Connotation
 The poem suggests the dangers of hard labor, especially on
children. It also suggests that children are forced to be
adults when thrust into such things.
 Imagery: contradicting images of beauty and violence create a
juxtaposition of innocence in children and the harmful
nature that labor has on them.


In the beginning of the poem, the buzz saw is described as dropping
“sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.” The setting is
also described as something beautiful: “Five mountain ranges one
behind the other under the sunset far into Vermont...”
As the poem nears the end, violent images are depicted: “The
saw.....leaped out at the boy’s hand.....[The boy] swung toward
them holding up the hand.....as if to keep the life from spilling.”
Connotation (Cont.)
 Point of view: a third person perspective allows us to view the
events through an un-biased eye. For example, we do not see
through the eye’s of the sister, who more than likely thinks
that he should have been doing work and that something like
this was bound to happen anyway.
 Allusions: the title’s allusion to Macbeth’s soliloquy about life
indicates that the poem makes a statement about life.
 Irony: usually children are not associated with dangerous
work, but in this story, a child is associated with it. Not only
that, but he dies from it.

“They listened to [the boy’s] heart. Little – less – nothing! – and
that ended it.”
Connotation (Cont.)
 Onomatopoeia: the sound of the buzz saw intertwined
throughout the poem emphasizes the dangerous nature
that the young boy has been placed in.

“The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard.”
“Snarled and rattled,
snarled and rattled...”
Attitude
 The speaker’s attitude is remorseful and full of shock. He
feels pity for the young boy because he was forced to work
so much, but is also shocked at what actually occurred.
 Remorse: “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.”
 Shock: “The saw.....leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed
to leap.....However it was, neither refused the meeting. But
the hand!”
 The author does not believe that children should be put to
work and is sorrowful that such occurrences as these have
happened before.
Shifts
 Two shifts occur. The first occurs when the actual
accident happens, and the second occurs after the boy
has died.
 The first shift is a shift in tone: ordinary, mundane
shocked, frightened
 The second shift is another shift in tone: shocked,
frightened
dark, sullen
 These shifts highlights how lightly such drastic events
may have been taken during this time period (early
1900s).
Title
 In Macbeth’s “Out, Out” soliloquy in “Macbeth,” he is
discussing life and death. He discusses it very lightly,
implying that death is to come eventually and life
distracts people from it. He states that “it is a tale told
by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.”
 Frost’s title is emphasizing the perspective of society as
they place children in such treacherous positions where
they are so very near to death. It is as if society (at this
time) viewed life as meaningless.
Theme
 Labor
 Innocence
 Violence
 Death
 Ignorance
 Society stakes its claim that life is something that is
meaningless when it deprives children of cherishing
the beauty of their lives and experiencing it for many
more years.
Related Media
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=Aw8W6hYGZ0E
“If I Die Young” – The
Band Perry
• Discusses young
death
• Makes the
statement that the
young should never
die