Robert Frost "Out, Out--"

Part I:

The poem “Out, Out-” by Robert Frost is a sad, and maybe a bit disturbing, piece, but still quite enjoyable. The language was simple enough to understand without making me want to my pull my hairs out, and the main idea of the poem was pretty blatant. I rather enjoyed interpreting this work, because each time I read it, I would find certain phrases or words that I hadn’t given much thought to before. Overall, a great poem and thus far, I haven’t been disappointed by Robert Frost poems.

Part II:

Frost has an interesting way of creating layers of meanings in his work. Even a single image can represent more than what meets the eye. For example, in his poem “Out, Out--” Frost gives a haunting image of a boy pleading for his life, his hand and his youth moments after he accidentally severs his own hand with a buzz saw. Tragically, he dies shortly after. This image, as gruesome as it may be, is used by Frost to summarize the entire poem – death is inevitable, and far too often, people allow work to take precedence over living life. In the poem, it reads “doing a man’s work, though a child at heart” (24). There is no mention of a father or mother-figure, so it can be assumed that the boy, who lives with his sister, is doing difficult, laborious work that would normally be done by someone much older and capable. It is implied that the boy only received thirty minutes of relaxation on any given day. Thus, the issue of child labor is raised here, and even hints at issues within society regarding class.

The boy’s death represents man-kind as a whole and how many people work too hard, whether by need to provide means for their lives, or just because they can. The power of the scene lies within the line “then the boy saw all” (22). Many don’t understand the importance of being happy and living a fulfilling life until death is knocking on their doors, regardless of age. In the case of the boy, he suddenly realizes that he wants to live and be a child, but understands that this will never happen; he knows that his life is about to end.

Even more disturbing than the boy’s death, is the lack of response from the doctors, and even his own sister. They all “turned to their affairs,” after he dies, as if his death was meaningless; as if moments before, he wasn’t pleading for them to save his life. The “affairs” Frost is referring to are their jobs, or rather work in general. Yet again, he shows how work is the top priority in some people’s lives.

One last thing Frost uses this scene to describe is the dichotomy of class in society, the rich versus the poor. The poor in this poem are the boy and his sister, and the rich would be the doctors. It is a possibility that the reason the doctors lack a response to the boy’s death is because he is of a lower class than they are. There are clearly no opportunities presented, or indicated, in this poem that the boy had a future that matches that of a doctor. Also, the doctors didn’t really seem to put much of an effort into saving him.

John Keats-Ode on a Grecian Urn

Part I:

For starters, let me just say that, in general, I dislike poetry with a fiery passion. Far too often I find myself irritated with my inability to comprehend or interpret poems. However, after several readings of John Keats “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” I can honestly say that I enjoyed it. Keats was able to draw me in from the beginning and keep me interested until the end. I found the poem to be very imaginative, as if Keats took, what to most people is an ordinary house item, and created a world of the past, a world unknown to most of us, and then returned to the present. The only "problem" I have with the poem is the last two lines. They left me with this feeling of understanding and confusion. It is as if I want to understand what Keats is trying to say, but I can’t because I feel like the two lines are randomly added. I feel as though it were a quote that was more applicable in Keats' age, but has since changed.

Part II:

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” begins with a description of the urn, and a series of questions about it. It seemed as if the narrator were questioning the figures placed upon the urn. Were they about gods and goddesses, or mere mortals? What were the stories behind them, their histories? In line 9 of stanza I, Keats poses the question “What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?” proposing that the urn is a timeless artifact with these stories and figures ‘struggling to escape’ and be heard so that they can continue on through time. Once the second stanza begins, the poem journeys back to the first of a number of scenes scrawled on the urn. In the first scene, the reader is presented with a young couple enjoying the notes being emitted from a pipe. Although the reader cannot hear the sound, it is imaginative and endearing to think of two people in love enjoying each other’s company. However, there is a melancholy tone there. “Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,” it states in line 17 of the second stanza, possibly saying that the couple can’t be together. In the next stanza, the passion and desire of the young couple is painted clearly, as phrases like “ever panting,” “breathing human passion,” “burning forehead,” and “parching tongue” are used. The word “happy” is used repeatedly, mocking the actual circumstances, because the young couple cannot be happy if they are not allowed to be together or express their sexual desires. The journey on the urn continues into stanza four, but presents a different scene. There are people, but they lack description. Instead, the focus is upon the town, which is empty. In this stanza, the narrator indirectly refers to the urn by claiming that while the town and its people will fade, its art can live on. In the fifth and final stanza of the poem, the narrator returns to the present and evaluates the urn once again. He says “dost tease us out of thought,” implying that the urn serves as a medium for accessing an old reality. This is what the narrator was illustrating throughout the entire poem about art in general. Art, in almost any form, hold stories about eras and people that are no longer here.