Out, Out—

Death is an age-old subject for poetry. Traditionally, a poem concerning individual death would express lamentation or consolation, or it might celebrate the deceased person’s unique life. However, “‘Out, Out—’” does something different, as the deceased is relatively depersonalized. The narrative offers no details about him before his death; the speaker does not even indicate that the boy is part of the narrative until Line 11, and the mention of him seems almost in passing. Further, the poem never shares his name or his communal connections—essentially, the narrative does nothing to establish this boy as an individual.

This deviation from the traditional mode occurs in a time of cultural shift, when the effects of the industrial revolution are still very much being experienced. In this poem, industrialization, symbolized by the buzz saw, is largely responsible for the death of the boy; even if he had been wounded by a traditional tool such as an ax, survival would have been much more likely. Moreover, the survivors take no time to lament or memorialize the boy; they simply “turn […] to their affairs” (Line 34). Death in the modern world, the poem implies, is sudden, violent, and anonymous.