Robert Frost wrote his famous poem “Out, Out—” in 1916, during the First World War. The poem reveals the author’s dark thoughts at a difficult time in the world’s history. The author was not at war, as well as the audience is not. However, Frost manages to reflect the core hardships of the wartime in his poem. “Out, Out—” depicts a story of a boy who cut his hand off when preparing the wood for his family. Frost draws a parallel between the war and peaceful home life by pointing out that the danger to one’s life is not necessarily in a dangerous place. Sometimes, it may await one at his own home. War is also reflected in the poem through the somber and ominous words and phrases.
Frost employs various figurative devices to make his poem more emphatic. However, it is particularly the use of understatement that gives the poem the power to impress with seemingly simple words. The instances of understatement strengthen the poem’s impact and empower it to become a remarkable example of the poet’s great work.
The power of Frost’s words becomes greater when we see what simple words he uses to describe the settings and his characters. The basic function of understatement is saying less than what one means. In “Out, Out—,” Frost succeeds in doing so many times. The words should not be taken literally, and the author invites his audience to look far beyond them. The readers are expected to see whole societies behind the images of the boy and the saw. We are encouraged to see much more than just a picture of one boy’s death. Frost apposes a few characters in his poem to the many people around the world. When we read the line “Neither refused the meeting” (18), we do not think about the poor boy and his meeting with the saw. We imagine the war as a huge saw taking away thousands of lives daily. “He saw all spoiled” (25) symbolizes the realization of the losses at war. Just as the boy understood that the tragic consequences could not be averted, the military men come to the point when they see the imminent defeat.
When Frost says “— and that ended it / No more to build on there” (32-33), he invites the audience to travel mentally to the numerous battlefields on which so many people fought bravely and lost their lives. When the war ends, there is nothing else to cling to, nothing “to build on there” (33), nothing to hope for, nothing to expect. Soldiers are left to themselves with their lives which are wounded both physically and psychologically. In the lines “And they, since they / Were not the one dead, / turned to their affairs” (33-34) we see another example of understatement and another war implication. In the poem, “they” are the boy’s family. They are in grief, but they are alive, they need to continue existence, and thus they go back to the usual duties and chores. These lines remind the audience that when a person dies, the world only stops for him or her. However, it does not end for everybody else. The same state of things governs the war – soldiers do not have time to mourn their dead comrades. They have to continue fulfilling their duties. The line “those that lifted eyes could count” (4) also refers to the soldiers and their impossibility to stand and reflect upon the numerous losses. They have no possibility to think about their deceased friends as they are busy with thinking of how to save their own lives.
The image of the saw in the poem represents how machinery has gradually swallowed humanity. Frost personifies the saw by mentioning how it “Leaped out” (16) and reiterating how it “snarled and rattled” (1, 7). The persistence with which the saw works reminds of the overwhelming organization system of the war: soldiers are constantly engaged in the fight, forgetting that they are humans, behaving as if they are elements of a huge machine which has the power of making their choices for them. “As if to prove saws knew what supper meant” (15), the saw injures the boy. The machinery wants to demonstrate that it is similar to people, it understands their needs, and it has the needs, as well.
As it can be seen from the numerous cases of understatement on Robert Frost’s “Out, Out—,” this device does not diminish the essence of the poem at all. On the contrary, it allows the readers to make assumptions as to what great truth is hidden behind the simple words. It takes much more talent to gain a tremendous effect by employing humble words than by using rich language. Robert Frost managed to touch the hearts of the audience and to make them look far beyond the surface of the poem. Therefore, the understated tone “Out, Out—” strengthens the poem’s impact.
Work Cited
Frost, Robert. “Out, Out—.” Kirszner and Mendell 596.