Saturday, December 6, 2008

What point is Robert Frost trying to make in the last two lines of his poem "Out, Out—"

Life goes on. The boy made a fatal mistake and Frost says "No more to build on there" meaning the boy is now useless to his family. He can't be taught anything else and so those who are left must move on since "they Were not the one dead". While it seems a harsh verdict and a brutal way to think of death, it is realistic in a rural setting where work continues. The boy's relations and friends have their own "affairs" to look after and cannot dwell on the boy's death. Death is a way of life for working people in the country. Animals die, crops whither and a new cycle starts. They cannot stop to ponder the seemingly meaningless death of the boy. Frost suggests that life is meaningless in the allusion he uses for the title of the poem which comes from Shakespeare's MacBeth:



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 final lines of Frost's poem represent the family's moving on. Since the death seems irrational, they seek meaning and rationality in the chores of the farm. Life offers no intrinsic meaning other than labor and looking after one's affairs.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What are hearing tests?

Indications and Procedures Hearing tests are done to establish the presence, type, and sever...