Author: kirsty (---.for.dsl.connect.net.au)
Date: 10-22-05 08:49
here is a list of what you all have said
can anyone please give me any and all information possible about the poem out,out-- i know how the title has to do with macbeth but what i really need to know is the PERSONIFICATION OF THE SAW..this is killing me here...PLEASE HELP ME..i need this to pass the year:(
thanks in advance
tiby
i need help with this poem also. but maybe i can help you a lil bit on it . out in my interptretation is the way the saw lept out, and how the blood came gushing from the boys hand
maybe i was some help
the buzzsaw is probably personified as a monster in the poem, because of the use of the words "snarled" and "rattled" which is onamatopoeia, also in the way that the saw "lept" out at the boys hand.
Can anyone give me some notes in the techniques used in the poem?
A key factor to keep in mind is that this poem was written in response to a news article that Frost came across. I don't know if he knew that people involved but it is a true happening and affected Frost deeply, deeply enough to write this uniquely detailed yet matter-of-fact poem.
okay look...this poem is a very literal poem...u r probably looking way too far into it....everything that it says in this poem is how it is!!!....personification is the giving of life and mind to inanimate objects. It makes a person out of abstract ideas and things without life, or out of animals and so therefore the inanimate object can now have thoughts, feelings, and characteristics of a human.
so the saws personification in this poem is found in the lines:
To tell THEM "Supper", At the word, the saw,
As if it meant to prove saws know what supper meant,
LEAPED out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap-
Wilthin those 3 lines the saw has LEAPED, took the quality of a human when saying THEM...as if the person was actually speaking to the saw....
So hopefully that is a little help..:)
the saw reprsesnts technology and indictaes technology is killing humans. the hand cut off represents the ability to write therefore think and he dies because he can no longer think (philosophy)
well it relates to macbeth because its title "out, out" is from a line that macbeth uses in the book. read it to find out!
It relates to the line in Macbeth where he finds about his wife's death. "Out, Out, brief candle! Life's like a walking shadow" or something like that,.
1] The title is from Shakespeare's Macbeth, V.v.15-28. Macbeth says, on learning of the death of Lady Macbeth, his wife:
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. 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. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
He may be referring to the "out out, brief candle" as life and how it's blown out so easily! Like for example the young boys life in the poem is "blowb out" so easily!
Hope that helps a bit!
THE POEM IS REALTED TO MC BEATH BECASUE IT IS A QUOTE FROM THE FAMOUS AUTHOR! OUT, OUT MEAN LIFE IS NO SIGNIFICANCE, WHICH REFERS TO THE BOYS LIFE. HOPE THIS HELPED!!!!!
My view is this: the poem really deals with the fragile nature of human life. The boy is doing work on a day like any other - the sky was clear, the breeze was blowing - and suddenly his life is destroyed by a buzz saw. There was no preparation and no buffer to ease his transition into death - he was planning to eat dinner in just a few minutes. Life can be taken quickly and without warning. The reaction of the doctors around him reveals the often callous nature of human beings to death. Perhaps we are this way because life is frail and because we experience death in different ways daily. Were we to weep every time someone died, there would be no time to live our own lives. Perhaps it's excuseable for the doctors because they see so much suffering and death anyway. In any event, a boy is dead and the death of such a young boy in such tragic circumstances may cause some to reflect on the meaning of life. "He was just a boy. He lived and died and what was it all worth?" That brings the poem back to the title, which is an allusion to Macbeth. I'll paraphrase. The allusion is from a part in the play when Macbeth is forced to face the death of a loved one and he contemplates the meaning of life. He compares life to a candle that burns briefly. He says we are poor players strutting and fretting on stage and then are heard from no more. In other words, we may make a lot of noise while we're here, but what does it all mean in the end if we're just going to die anyway? He says life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying. These are emotions one may experience when dealing with death, and one dealing with the loss of a young child, brother, etc., may also be justified in experiencing these feelings.
Here's another question to ponder: where were this kid's parents when he was playing in the yard with a buzz saw?
Quote Kerry: "where were this kid's parents when he was playing in the yard with a buzz saw?"
I think he was chopping trees. In those days children that age had to work.
I beleive that the poem shows how change can come about unexpectedly (as someone above said, it was a normal day).
It also signifies that we need to overcome the adversity that change brings. (The boy feared that he would lose his hand, he lost his life).
One thing i am confused about is the insignificance of man's life. This is a reflection of man's character in those times because these days life is valued.
I don't think it was the insignificance of life that was the point but rather that there is nothing one can do facing the death of a loved one but to move on with their life. Pritchard writes in his book "Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered" "What is there to say - by anyone, includng the poet - in the face of such a finality? The answer is that we are powerless, except to change the subject." (155)
he was not playing in the yard he was working and got distracted when his siister came done to tell him and his brother and father supper was ready !
It says in the poem, "His sister stood beside THEM in her apron to tell them "Supper."" Who was with the boy at the time f his accident? His father perhaps?? The girl is telling the boy and someone else that supper is ready so who is she telling???
No, I think the "them" that the poem is referring to is the boy and the saw. Frost is just personifying the saw.
It's an omniscent narrator talking...that should help.
Notes
1] The title is from Shakespeare's Macbeth, V.v.15-28. Macbeth says, on learning of the death of Lady Macbeth, his wife:
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. 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. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
The poem relates to Macbeth very simply. In the final acts of Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth finds out that his wife, Lady Macbeth, has taken her own life. Macbeht ponders about what they have done and perhapps their actions have led to her downfall. macbeth gives a very powerfull soliloquay in which he thinks about life and compares it to being like a candle and says: "Out Out brief Candle" . macbeth is basically saying that like a candle lie is fragile and can be taken away so easily.
Frost is using the same theme but is cleverly linking the two. Frost is taking a different story which he learned that a young boy was killed on a farm. Frost uses the same theme and comments on the life of the young boy and suggests that his life should have been different if he had been treated differently.
This is the text from the newspaper article that prompted Frost into writing this:
Lancaster, Nov 18th-- John M. Adams, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Adams, Route 3, Riverton, died last Saturday evening as a result of injuries he recieved while operating a power saw on his parent's farm.
The accident happened late Saturday afternoon while young Adams, his brother Stephen, 12, and his father were sawing logs. Aparrently the boy was momentarily distracted while feeding a peice of wood into the blade, which caught his hand and amputated it.
The youth's sister, Maude, 17, was witness to the accident. She said that her mother had sent her to call her father and brother to supper. The accident occurred, she said, just as she called to them.
Mr. Adams immediately drove to nearby Riverton for a doctor. He finally located Dr. E. L. White and drove him back to the farm.
Dr. White said that when he arrived the boy was already in shock from loss of blood, and that it was impossible to save him. The cause of death was listed by the coroner as accidental.
Funeral services on Tuesday were held in Riverton Congregational Church, and internment was in Good Hope Cemetary.
--------------------
I would like to know why the hell the father would drive all the way to get the doctor and then back, rather than bringing the boy to the doctor. I think that may have ended up costing the boy his life.
>
> basically it is a poem about the precariousness of
> life.
Do you have a reference for the newspaper article. I would like to use it as a source for a paper. I also have read that Frost wrote this poem after the untimely death of his son Carol.
i can't beleive how many of ou ask the same questions!this site is really not ver useful however i hope i change that. i'll include a piece i wrote about the poem and i hope that it helps someone. chow!
------Out Out is a macabre narrative poem that tells the tragedy of a young boy that lives in a rural area and is propelled to work long days, in fact until sunset, doing a job that is fit for a man instead of spending the days as a youth.
“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.”
These lines not only inform us that the boy wished he did not have to work but it also reflects a sense of regret on the bystanders part. It proposes the fact that if they had finished up early, or not made this young boy do a job fit for his superior then his death may never have occurred.
There is a clear implication that the type of work is a day to day event for this young boy. “day was all but done” suggests this.
The line emphasises the day is over and the word ‘day’ refers to the passing of time which also represents the absence of light and perhaps also represents death.
The extract reflects frost’s numerous ideas of life and death, tragedy, the fragile nature of human life, the isolation of the individual in the social and natural environment, the harshness of life’s demands, and frost’s personal interest in the way in which individuals deal with life’s issues such as death are clearly reflected in the poem ‘out out’.
These ideas are highlighted to the reader as a result of frost’s use of particular techniques such as personification, repetition, onomatopoeia, and word structure which ultimately produces a precise rhythm to the poem. Frost also makes what I believe to be biblical references in the poem.
“ he must have given the hand” the denotation of this phrase is that the boy must have to some degree given up and allowed the saw to ruin him as a result of exhaustion although frost may also be referring to the hand of god which suggests that the boy was accepting of death.
Throughout the poem the buzz saw is personified. The saw is given human and animal-like qualities.
“ and the saw snared and rattled, snarled and rattled as it ran light or had to bear a load” suggests that the saw is in fact some kind of creature which may possess more power than the boy.
The use of personification and onomatopoeia here really depicts the saw to be quite an alive, powerful creature. The repetition of “snarling and rattling, snarling and rattling” makes it clear that the saw is dominating what is currently happening.
These two lines appeal to two of our senses- sight and hearing as a result of the use of imagery and personification .
The saw is not only making a noise “snarling and rattling” but it is also bearing a load and producing light which gives us a clear image of what is going on.
Frost also includes personification when he describes the
occurrence of the accident. “the saw , as if to prove saws
knew what super meant, leaped out at the boys hand.” The personified saw again, is portrayed by frost to own
elements of an animal-like nature.
Although the subject matter of out out is quite ghastly for the modern reader, frost’s use of ordinary objects and subjects such as a saw, a hand and working which all
still exist today make the poem have larger significance as a result of frost’s clever use of techniques such as imagery, personification, onomatopoeia
And finally poetic interpretation just like I have done. Thankyou.
I think this poem is displaying that the boys life didn't really mean much to the family, and the whole poem is displayed very causually by the speaker.
It took place in a farm in Vermont in a time when kids are brought up and raised to work at very young ages. They were more of a worker than a kid to their parents.
At the end of the poem in the last two lines it says
"No more to build on there.And they, since they/ Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs."
These last two lines show how the family cared about the boy. They accepted his death and went along with their lives. To the family he was justa worker.
The speaker felt sorry for the boy in lines 9 , 10 , and 11
"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"
Those lines expressed that the speaker wished the boy could have ended work earlier and enjoyed it instead of working hard until dark like usual. The 30 minutes he could get off would make him happy, but he was merely a worker and the family did not care.
THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE SAW IS WHERE THE SAW SEEMS TO TAKE ON HUMAN TRAITS, SUCH LEPT FROM HIS HAND-- SAWS KNEW WHAT SUPPER MEANT -- NEITHER REFUSED THE MEETING , AS THOUGH THE SAW HAD THE OPTION TO REFUSE ------- HOPE THIS HELPS
ok well i have gathered many ideas from everyone on here, tonite i am writtin a speech that is due tomorrow.
oh and i cant spell for crap so mind my spelling
I will write down most of the notes i did in class on this poem:
heading "OUT, OUT-" incomplete, repitition
"buzz saw snarlled and rattled " personification
sweet scented stuff eliteration S sounding words
"And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled" onomatapia
heavy use of onomatapia to make the reader into the picture
day was all BUT done, BUT is a hard sounding word suggesting it is going to go against what it was
"...and nothing happended..." reassurance
hahah got this far and cant be bothered
Sorry, it probably didnt help either hahah see ya
Read the poem through again and again until you get an idea of what happens. May seem obvious but reading it once through is not enough for you to properly understand it. The title "out out" a a reference to Macbeths "out brief candle", refering to the fragility of life and how it can be extinguished so easily without a care ,like the boys life.
The saw is personified- this is easily seen through the words such as "snarled" and "rattled", it seems to be monster like as it's supper turns out to be the boys hand, and it leaps to get at it. Note the "sweet scented stuff" and "mountain ranges"-the beautiful nature surrounding the terrible act that happens in the poem. This is used to contrast the gentle with the aggressive and to show how nature continues to live even when we do not.
The author sympathises with the boy, or at least thinks we should, as seen in lines 9 10 and 11. We always think "if only id have done this instead of that..." and the author here shows how a simple break from the work could have saved the boys life, how the path of life can be altered in a matter of minutes, seconds. The sister standing beside "them" is most likely the boy and the saw, as others have already pointed out. There seems to be some confusion about the actual meeting of the saw and the boys hand- "neither refused the meeting", nothing could be done and the boys wasnt trying to get away at the time, he didnt even know it had happened, he is always in disbelief, in shock as we see late in the poem with "the boys FIRST outcry was a rueful laugh".
The author also evokes sympathy for the boy through pointing out how this young boy is doing the work of a grown man "big boy...a child at heart".
This is where my opinion differs- i think that either the sister is two different people of perhaps the same person. I think that there is a play on the word "sister"- meaning both sibling and sister in a medical sense. Probably not but an idea.
The words "little-less-nothing" show the fragility of the boys life and how little life there seemed to be in the first place. No more to build on- perhaps that the boy cannot finish building whatever it was with the saw, and that because the young boy is dead, he cannot grow and his personality cannot be built upon by experiences of life. Then the doctor, and family, return to their lives. Life carries on refering back to the title again.
The poem reminds me of another called "War!" but i cant remember by the life of my who its by- it also deals with the issue of almost worthless life and how life just carries on once we are dead. Might be Tennyson, dunno tho.
Hope this helps you peeps. once you get the general gist of the poem it just flows. Once i understood it i really liked it. Bye now.
i think kathleen is really the only one who has posted anything of value. the poem is essentially comprised of themes of the mortality of man, accepting tragedy, the need to work in a lower class society and man vs machine. i too am doing an assignment on it for school. Most people, as have on this board, see mortality as the main issue. but do not forget that there are alot of Marxist concepts also. They are children working, and parents are not mentioned. The boy fears the loss of his hand because it means he would no longer be useful in a society where work is vital. The doctor, of higher status, evokes fear in the boy. and the end couplet simply shows that they may not be accepting of his death- they may be moving on because they had to to survive. it is about the struggle of the lower class farmers in america.
ok i posted already...but i think a lot of you need help...
"out, out" is a narrative poem (a poem that tells a story, rather than a series of events). the authors of narrative poems need to be able the ability to draw characters and settings briefly, and engage attention, and to shape a plot. which leaves the reader to consider outside influences such as WHEN the story takes place, which is most often not stated in the poem. for instance if a poem about a woman being yelled at takes place during the feminist movement...you can assume the woman will stand up for herself.
you really cannot analyze this poem...or in some cases even understand it ... without taking into account when it was written (1916). which would be considered part of the setting. the time of day(evening/suppertime), the mountains in vermont, would also be included in setting.
this is my previous post....
at the time the poem takes place, it was customary for farmers not to own their own saws, which were big and expensive at the time. typically, there would be one farmer who had a saw, and he would travel from farm to farm chopping trees for the winter. the men from neighboring farms would travel with the saw, and help each other to chop the wood. the saw was very large, and required several people to operate. it was expected that the person who owned the farm that was being worked on that day would cook supper for all of the workers that had come to help. when frost refers to "them" he is referring to all of the men who have come to help cut the trees.
the day was coming to a close when the sister comes out to announce supper. the boy who loses his hand, should probably not have been left on the end of machine where the saw blade was located. he should have only been allowed to work on the other end pushing the stump to meet the blade. he was distracted by the sister, and probably tired and careless, due to the late hour.
consider also, that the poem takes place on a farm in vermont...even now, farms are out in the country, far from towns and help(in the event of an accident, such as cutting off a hand) i noticed that a lot of posts talk about doctors...there are no doctors in this poem. the boy says "the doctor, WHEN he comes" the pulse watcher (who is not referred to as doctor for a reason) is most likely one of the other farmers who came to help cut wood.
the narrator is an omniscient narrator that is, he knows everything that is going on, and speaks from the third person perspective. the narrator does show some sympathy for the boy, but so does the pulse watcher (" and then-- the watcher at his pulse took fright) there is sympathy, briefly...even the tone of the poem is somber. but as you know by now...these are farmers, in vermont, preparing for winter. they have all experienced death...probably quite often. their life experiences have influenced them into dealing with death in a manner that we might consider callous...but they didnt have much choice. it was either dwell on it, and risk being unprepared for winter...or move on. they chose to move on.
the inability to change it brings me to the title. out, out is a reference to macbeth. macbeth is referencing the fragility of life...frost uses that idea. the fragility of life is the theme of this poem. that life is as unpredictable, uncontrollable and volatile as a candle flame (all assumed from macbeth quote) but that is the ONLY connection to Shakespeare dont read too much into it.
the saw is given a lot of human characteristics...frost talks about the saw as a being, that has the ability to understand (that it knew what supper meant) and the ability to choose (neither refused the meeting) which is how the saw is personified.
ok im sick of typing so i hope that this is helpful...
if you have an assignment you might consider including more poetry terms such as onomatopia. and that the boy was young, doing a mans work.
|
|
