‘Out, Out -’
Robert Frost
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 him 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.
, VOCABULARY
Buzz saw - a circular machine saw that spins fast
Ether - a type of anaesthetic, used to knock out patients
Vermont - a northern state of the USA
STORY/SUMMARY
Scene in a yard of a house, a boy uses machinery to cut wood with a buzz saw (on a
table instead of hand held, mechanical). He has been working hard for a long time
and the sister eventually tells him to come inside for supper. This breaks his
concentration, perhaps showing his excitement or emphasising his fatigue, in which
time the saw deeply cuts through his hand. He is in shock and panics about the idea
of losing his hand. The doctor arrives and puts him under anesthetic. He passes away
and everyone else continues with their lives.
SPEAKER/VOICE
The speaker is a third person omniscient narrator, who tells the story impartially,
although he adds a somewhat tragic tone to the story.
FORM/STRUCTURE
One single stanza / Dramatic form - sense of continuation to the scene,
compacted/dense, compression of events and detail - setting/mood/tone, climactic
moment and resolution, intense atmosphere - amplifies the shock of the
story/outcome, everything happens so quickly (mirrors shock of characters), could
represent a continuation of life, which ends at the stanza’s close.
Lots of dashes - caesura, particularly at the end of lines - suspenseful ‘don’t let him
cut my hand off -’ driving towards climactic moment, breath or pause, anticipation /
lack of fluid narrative / emulates the motion of cutting wood.
