Western Literature Final Essay
AEN096133 Amily Chiu
What kind of impression do you have of Robert Frost’s society from his writing:
‘Out, Out—’?
Robert Frost was one of America’s popular poets during the twentiethcentury. He was born in San Francisco, California in 1874. When he was
thirty-eight years old, he decided to sell his farm and moved to New England,
and then he started to write poetry and devoted himself to his works.
‘It has been not only explored but also experienced.’ 1 Frost’s poetry
included not only the rural life about New England but also deeper meanings
which related to the real society and what people thought through his
observation and experience. ‘A complete poem is one where an emotion has
found its thought and the thought has found the words.’2 Furthermore, Frost
liked to use unnamed speakers or metaphor in his poetry to express some
emotions as well. Thus, I think that is why Frost’s poetry became famous and
he had been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times.
James M. Cox, Robert Frost: A Collection of Critical Essays (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall: 1962), p.3
1
James M. Cox, Robert Frost: A Collection of Critical Essays (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall: 1962), p.16
2
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Western Literature Final Essay
AEN096133 Amily Chiu
‘Out, Out—’ , for example, was one of Frost’s realistic poetry and was
published in the 1916 collection Mountain Interval. The title was a quote from
Shakespeare’s 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.’3 It meant ‘Life is like a walking shadow, like an actor who performs on
stage for a short time, and then is never heard again.’4 Macbeth learned that
life was not long and even meaningless from the death of his wife, so Frost
used ‘Out, Out—’ as the title to describe the short life of the poor young boy in
the poem. Moreover, the setting of this poem was under the Industrial
Revolution and the First World War (1914-1918). And it took place in the
countryside in America because of the depictions, such as ‘yard’, ‘breeze’, or
‘mountain’.
3
No fear Shakespeare: Macbeth: Act 5, scene
<http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/page_202.html.>
(Last accessed January 2009.)
4
William Shakespeare, Macbeth(Penguin Readers: 2004), p.48
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Western Literature Final Essay
AEN096133 Amily Chiu
In the beginning of this poem, he wrote about the picturesque scenery
around the yard, and then depicted a young boy worked with a buzz-saw which
should be an adult work in the woods. Because of carelessness, the boy’s
hand was cut off by the buzz-saw he was using, and he even died in the end.
But the other adult workers just looked at him until he died. After that, they just
went back to their own affairs as usual and without any sadness.
In my point of view, America was just went through the Industrial
Revolution and the First World War in the early twentieth-century, so lives
were so tough for many farm workers in the countryside at that time. In
addition, because there were many new and efficient machines which perhaps
took the place of farm workers were invented at the same time, the farm
workers worked even harder for fear of losing their jobs. And how about they
went back to their affairs as usual after the death of the boy? In my opinion, I
think everyone at that time, including children, had to work so hard that they
could earn enough money to maintain their lives. So they had no extra time to
enjoy the beautiful scenery around them and even feel sorrow at the death of
the boy which would not change anymore. As the speaker said from line
nineteen to line twenty-two:
‘The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh.
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Western Literature Final Essay
AEN096133 Amily Chiu
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—’
It seemed to show us the cruelty of reality, although the boy almost lost his
hands, the other adult workers did not help him with anything, only looking at
him until his death instead. Maybe they thought the boy was going to lose his
hands and became useless for working so they just focused on their affairs
rather than being sad after the death of the boy. Thus, I think the ‘saw’ was a
pun because it meant not only the buzz-saw but also the boy’s realization of
the brutality of reality.
Bibliography:
1. Answers.com: Out, out—
<http://www.answers.com/topic/out-out-poem>
(Last accessed January 2009.)
2. Answers.com: Robert Frost
<http://www.answers.com/Robert%20Frost>
(Last accessed January 2009.)
3. James M. Cox, Robert Frost: A Collection of Critical Essays (Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall: 1962)
4. Wikipedia: Robert Frost
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost>
(Last accessed January 2009.)
5. William Shakespeare, Macbeth (Penguin Readers: 2004)
4