Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
"Out, Out—"
(1916)
Robert Frost
(March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)
Mountain Interval
(1916) |
|
The buzz-saw
snarled and rattled in the yard And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood, Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it. And from there those that lifted eyes could count Five mountain ranges one behind the other Under the sunset far into Vermont. And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled, As it ran light, or had to bear a load. And nothing happened: day was all but done. 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. His sister stood beside them in her apron To tell them “Supper.” At the word, the saw, As if to prove saws knew what supper meant, Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap–– He must have given the hand. However it was, Neither refused the meeting. But the hand! The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh, 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–– Since he was old enough to know, big boy Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart–– He saw all spoiled. “Don’t let him cut my hand off–– The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!” So. But the hand was gone already. The doctor put him in the dark of ether. He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath. And then––the watcher at his pulse took fright. No one believed. They listened at his heart. Little––less––nothing!––and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs. |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 |
Notes
This poem was first published in Frost's third collection of poetry Mountain Interval in 1916.
"Out, Out––": The title of this poem, in quotation marks, is a quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth (1611). The speaker is Macbeth after hearing that his wife is dead.
10 call it a day: stop working; cease work for that day
Study Questions
|
Sample Student Responses to Robert Frost's "Out, Out—"
Response 1:
Study Question:
|
Reference
Frost, Robert. "'Out, Out—'" 1916. Complete Poems of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. 171–72. Print.
Frost, Robert. "Out, Out—" 1916. Mountain Interval. New York: Henry Holt, 1931. 50–51. Print.
Criticism on the Poem
Abad, Gémino H. A Formal Approach to Lyric Poetry. Quezon City, Philippines: University of the Philippines Press, 1978. 233–34. Print.
Borroff, Marie. "Robert Frost's New Testament: Language and the Poem." Modern Philology 69.1 (1971): 47–48. Print.
Bruels, Marcia. "Frost's '"Out, Out—,"'" Explicator 55.2 (1997): 85–88.
Doxey, William S. "Frost's '"Out, Out—,"'" Explicator 29 (1971): 207.
Hawkins, Robert. Preface to Poetry. New York: Basic Books, 1965. 43–45. Print.
Henderson, Archibald. "Robert Frost's '"Out, Out—"'" American Imago 34.1 (1977): 12–27. Print.
Kelly, William J. "Frost's '"Out, Out—"'" Explicator 38.3 (1980): 12–13.
Jacobus, Lee A., and William T. Moynihan. Poems in Context. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974. 20–23. Print.
Perrine, Laurence. Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. 4th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. 127–28. Print.
Pritchard, William H. "The Grip of Frost." Hudson Review 29.2 (1976): 195–97.
Thornton, Weldon. "Frost's '"Out, Out—"'" Explicator 25.9 (1967): 1–3.
Links |
|
Media |
|
Robert Frost |
|
Home | Introduction to the Study of English Fiction | Literary Terms | English Help
Last updated June 15, 2013