Volume 10 213
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside them in her apron
To tell them “Supper.” At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,^15
Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand 20
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—
He saw all spoiled. “Don’t let him cut my hand 25
off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!”
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright. 30
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.Poem Summary
Lines 1-3:
The poem begins with a description of the buzz
saw that later “attacks” the unnamed boy. Frost per-
sonifies the saw, saying it “snarled and rattled.” He
also contrasts the harsh noise of the saw with the
“sweet” scent of the wood that the saw cuts into
pieces. This is the first of the poem’s several con-
trasts (including serenity and violence, youth and
adulthood, panic and calm, speech and silence, and,
of course, life and death).
Lines 4-8:
Frost clarifies the setting in these lines: the ac-
tion is occurring in rural Vermont, and from where
the boy is working one can see five mountain
ranges. This peaceful and picturesque sight, like the
“sweet-scented” wood mentioned earlier, contrasts
the horrors that are about to occur. The sun is set-
ting and day is ending—as the boy’s life will end
at the conclusion of the poem. Frost reminds the
reader of the saw’s power by repeating the words
“snarled and rattled.”
Lines 9-12:
The speaker expresses his wish that some-
one—presumably an adult—would have told the
boy to “Call it a day”; doing so would have pre-
vented the accident. The speaker’s wish raises the
issue of the boy behaving (and eventually dying)
like a man, an issue that becomes more pronounced
as the poem proceeds. A boy loves to gain a half
hour and be “saved from work,” but this boy did
not (as the speaker hints) receive such a lucky re-
prieve.Lines 13-18:
The section describes the accident as well as
the speaker’s attempt to make sense of why it hap-
pened in the first place. The image of the girl in an
apron yelling, “Supper!” recalls the idea of the boy
behaving like an adult—like her brother, she is
helping with the chores and, in doing so, entering
the world of adulthood. After her announcement,
the speaker first suggests that the saw, in an attempt
to show its intelligence, “Leaped out at the boy’s
hand.” Again, personification is used to imply that
the saw has a mind of its own. However, the
speaker realizes that this is simply impossible, and
qualifies his initial description of the saw’s “leap”
with the phrase, “or seemed to leap.” His confu-
sion over whysuch a thing happened increases in
the next lines: “He must have given the hand. How-
ever it was, / Neither refused the meeting.” Ulti-
mately, all the speaker can conclude is that both
the boyandthe saw had a “meeting,” which itself
is an odd term, since “meeting” usually describes
a meeting of people with other people, not inani-
mate objects. Thus, the speaker cannot wholly
abandon the notion of the personified saw and, al-
though he has already discounted such an idea (with
“or seemed to leap”), he clings to it as one possi-
ble way to explain the boy’s otherwise meaning-
less death.Lines 19-22:
As the previous lines depict the speaker’s re-
action to the accident, these lines depict the boy’s
reaction. The reader learns that the boy’s “first out-
cry was a rueful laugh”—a decidedly adult reac-
tion combining immense sorrow, disbelief, and an
ironic commentary on the situation. The image of
the boy trying to keep his hand balanced on his arm
“to keep / The life from spilling” contrasts that of
the “Five mountain ranges one behind the other”
first presented to the reader.Lines 22-27:
After his initial panic, the boy becomes
prophetic. (According to many old legends and
mythologies, dying people could suddenly have vi-
sions of the future.) Since the boy is about to die
a “man’s” death, he is “old enough to know” that
nothing will save him after losing so much blood.Out, Out—