Out, Out—

The poem’s title, “‘Out, Out—,’” references William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. When Macbeth learns that his wife is dead, he gives a short soliloquy:

    […] 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 (5.5.23-28).

Macbeth’s mourning expresses the idea that life is short and meaningless, comparing it to a candle that burns only for a short time and then is gone forever. From early on with its allusive title, the poem espouses Macbeth’s sentiments, the boy’s short life being their clear subject. Additionally, by associating the death of Lady Macbeth, a queen, with this anonymous farm boy, the title implies his death is no less tragic despite his humble stature.

However, Frost’s allusion to Macbeth even transcends the soliloquy. Like Frost’s poem, Shakespeare’s play includes hand imagery connected to violent death. In an earlier scene, Lady Macbeth utters lines that prefigure her husband’s; fretting over her complicity in murder, the Lady says, “Out, damned spot; out, I say” (5.1.30). She speaks figuratively of guilt, addressing a metaphorical blood stain, the “damned spot” she wishes to remove from herself—from her own hands.

Here and throughout the play, hand imagery ties to death, murder, and culpability. Though the Frost poem may only indirectly concern the concept of blame—the buzz saw is a kind of killer—the poem’s historical

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now