Analyse the two poems 'Out-Out' by Robert Frost and 'Mid Term Break' by Seamus Heaney by paying particular attention to the similarities between the two poems.

One point to consider is the shape of the poem, as it vaguely resembles the shape of a blade of a saw or also it could resemble the screen of a life support machine at a hospital. Both could be relevant to the poem.

The poem is based on the story of a young boy who died whilst doing a man's job which he couldn't cope with.

"Big boy doing a man's job"

He was working in the garden when he cut his hand with the buzz saw he was working with. The injury was so bad he had to go to hospital for it to be amputated due to the extent of the injury. Unfortunately during the operation, inevitably the young child died.

The title of the poem is significant because it refers to the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, when Macbeth hears about the heath of his wife.

"Out, Out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player..."

this is saying that life can end very quickly. As the young boys life did in the poem.

The poet sets the scenery of the poem by describing

"Sweet-scented stuff"

He describes the scenery of beautiful mountains and sunset. When he describes this, it seems as though everything is perfect in the poem and that nothing could go wrong.

There is a quick shift in the poem as Robert Frost introduces the rattling and the snarling. There is a lot of repetition of 'rattled and 'snarled' in the poem, which in my opinion is creating the image of an evil snake ready to attack , as a snake rattles and snarls. Another thing that relates to a snake is the way the saw leaped out at the boy.

"Leaped out at the boys hand"

In a snake like manner.

"And nothing happened: day was all but done."

With this line it goes back to the peaceful tone it once was, and seems to cover up the fact that there might be an upcoming tragedy, and calms the poem down again.

There are a lot of euphemisms in the poem whilst describing the boy's death. One example of this is when the child cuts his hand instead of screaming, he laughs.

"The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh" and also

"...holding up his hand in appeal"

This is quite ironic because it is probably not possible to do anything about the hand but he is still appealing.

"Don't let him cut my hand off!"

During the poem there is a lot of use of onomatopoeia an example of this is

"The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard"

Which is also an example of alliteration, and it makes the reader believe the buzz saw is evil.

Throughout the poem there is a sense of dispassion as the poet has nothing to do with the family and towards the end of the poem the poet seems to back out way, as if it were in a film and the camera was zooming out.

In Mid-Term Break there is definitely a more structured layout, of shirt sentences, because it is hard for the brother to go into much detail as he is still in great shock over the tragedy. The poem seems to be more like a recollection as there is a lot of mention of the time and order things happened in.

"At two o'clock the neighbours drove me home"

"At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived."

From the start of the poem there is the theme of death. There is the mention of

"Bells knelling classes to a close"

A knelling bell is the type of bell that is used in funerals, and from the start we see the death running through the poem.

The death came as a great shock to the family and nobody could believe it.

"...met my father crying, he had always taken funerals in his stride..."

This is showing how inevitable the death was to the family.

Also the mother is so upset about it she isn't crying tears.

"Angry tearless sighs"

as she is angrier at the fact it could happen to such a sweet innocent child.

In the poem the baby is described to be laughing through the whole event, too innocent to understand the harsh realities of life.

"The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram"

As there is in Out-Out there is the use of euphemisms to try and soften the blow of the deatg, and make it seem less tragic. It is like everybody is scared of telling the truth, and are too polite to say it like it really is.

"It was a hard blow", "paler now" and "sorry for my trouble"

when the child is in the hospital there is a lot of contrast in the room between the red of the bruise on the child's head and the white candles.

"Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple" and "Candles soothed the bedside"

The candles could also refer to catholic beliefs as in the religion they light candles to remember peoples lives, and to send them to heaven.

Unlike Out-Out the ending is far more dramatic and depressing rather then the fading away from the story as happened In Out-Out, as you didn't even know how old the boy was until the very last line. This makes it seem very sad.

"wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,

he lay in the four foot box as in his cot.

No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year."

This is very effective because it explained everything that happened, as we didn't know the story until the end. I think that makes the poem much more emotional, not knowing what to think.

I believe Mid Term Break is more effective because of the was the poet has described the death, and it seems much more emotional that Out-Out.

Owain Davies

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