Out, Out By Robert Frost Essay

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In Robert Frost’s poem, “Out, Out-” the poet uses literary devices to portray the meaninglessness of life. The boy in the story is a child who has to do adults’ work. However, this causes him to lose his life. Frost creates a character to express the meaninglessness of life. The boy never got to experience anything in his life, thus making it seem pointless. Frost’s diction shows that the boy’s life ended before it should have, thus making it seem pointless. The use of the word “ether” is to express that the doctor wants the boy to die peacefully, because his death was inevitable. Frost’s choice of the title “Out, Out-” is a reference to Shakespeare's “Macbeth”, which is a play about the meaninglessness of life. The title is also part of a quote, but the rest of the quote was cut off. This is a reference to the boy’s hand getting cut off in the poem. The sentence “And they, since they were not the ones dead, turned to their affairs” is used to show that no one is mourning over the boy’s death, thus making it seem pointless. Lastly, “to tell them Supper” gives us a perspective on how young the boy is, because he still has a guardian. The diction…show more content…
The sentence “ Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart” explains how the boy has to do adult’s work, even though he is just a child. “Neither refused the meeting” explains that his hand being cut off was an accident. “Little, less, nothing” represents how quickly the boy’s life ended. The personification of the saw having to “bear a load” is a reference to what killed the boy. The phrase “saw all was spoiled” is a reference to how all the boy did in his life was work, making his life seem pointless. Lastly, in the alliteration “ him the half hour” the beginning “H” sound, represents a breath, which represents how short the boy’s life is. The figurative language gives a image of how short and pointless the boy’s life

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