"Out, Out"

Meaning:

A boy is cutting wood with a personified "evil, snarling" saw, and cuts his hand when his sister calls him for dinner. He begs the doctor not to amputate but it is too late, the boy has lost too much blood and dies. Frost feels that if the boy had been allowed a half hour break, or told to take the rest of the day off, he would have been spared. After the boy dies everyone returns to their work, seemingly unaffected.Frost is showing us that to much work and no play can have serious consequences, causing physical harm, and such an obsession with our work that we forget the rest of the world. Though the poem is a bit of a hyperbole for what could happen, the message still gets across.

Antecedent Scenario:

Before the poem begins it is implied the boy has been working all day chopping wood or doing other chores.

Climax:

The boy's sister comes and calls him for dinner and the saw "leaps" out of his hand and cuts it badly.

Other Parts:

The doctor arrives and the boy begs not to get his hand amputated, but he has lost too much blood and dies. Everyone watching, presumably the boy's family, is unaffected because it wasn't them who got hurt, and return to their work.

Skeleton:

The poem appeals to our emotions by demonstrating the horrible affects of becoming disconcerted with the world because we are too obsessed with our work.

Content Genre Games:

Frost uses imagery and personification to describe the situation up to the climax, then after the climax is just vague enough to where it takes some thinking to figure out exactly what happened, but the general meaning is conveyed to the casual reader. Frost juxtaposes the peaceful outdoor setting with the violence of a severed hand to convey meaning.

Tone:

Frost's attitude shows that people need to take time to live and enjoy themselves without being completely consumed by their work.

Agency:

Frost gives agency to the saw portraying it as "snarling" and "jumping" out of the boy's hand. The boy is also given agency pleading for his life when he knows it is too late.

Roads Not Taken:

Frost could have described more with what the other people where doing before the incident and then referred back to them after the boys death.

Speech Acts:

There wasn't much dialogue in this poem. Frost mostly used onomatopoeia with the "buzzing" of the saw. The boy's sister did say "Supper" inciting the jumping of the saw to cut the boy's hand, and the boy did plead for his hand but there was no direct quotes.

Imagination:

Frost uses imagery in the beginning of the poem calling the reader to imagine the mountain ranges and at the end of the poem imagine how the boy dies since it isn't explicit.