"Out, Out- -"

Blog #2
Part 1:
Robert Frost’s poem brought about a sense of sadness and fear. “Out, Out,” is a tragedy of a young boy losing his life in a struggle to provide for his family. The tone was very cold but the ending lines brought forth a sense of truth and realization. I thought it was interesting how the poem’s setting started with images of a beautiful Vermont landscape and ended with such disaster. The block of text showed how quick one’s life could be over, no matter how young or how innocent the death. I agree with the overall message, in that even though love ones pass we have to continue on with our lives and make the most out of our time here.

Part 2:
The last two lines of the poem are critical to the entire meaning of such loss. Frost writes, “No more to build on there. And they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs” (33). A child in losing his hand lost his life, bringing despair to the family. Due to this the speaker tries to make a critical point in that we still must move on with our lives, no matter what type of tragedy comes our way. These ending lines bring about a realization that life could end in a second, but death does not stop the living, so we must continue where they left off. Even though it is a tragedy for an innocent child to lose his life so unexpected, life continues and we can’t let such incidents impact our life and our survival, no matter how severe. Time continues to move on; mourning a loss just lessens our time here on earth. The speaker is not saying to not mourn the loss of a love one, just saying not to let it affect your life in the same way. Even the deceased would not like to see their love ones struggle due to their parting. Once a death occurs, there is nothing one can do to bring it back. Move on, return to life as it was, even though a meaningful part of it is now gone. Another moment of the story brings critical importance to the entire poem. The child yelled, “Don’t let him cut my hand off,” at first a sense of fear arose from the boy but in more depth the child didn’t want to be useless in supporting his family (25). Never were parents mentioned in the story, just a sibling, so possibly the young boy was the main provider of the house. He was just a child doing the work of a man to support his family and himself. Such an accident made him realize that if the doctor chopped off his hand, he wouldn’t be able to work and provide, making him useless in the world. He begged for it not to be amputated, not for his own fear of injury, but for the detriment his family will face from such a loss of mobility. This shows the poem is not only about a loss of life and moving on from tragedy but about helping others and yourself in the fight for survival. The end comes quick and in this life our job is to work and satisfy those around us and that nothing should stop us from fighting, not a loss of a hand or a loss of life.

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Part 1) In general, I thought the poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” by John Keats, was quite interesting. He wrote the poem based on illustrations which were embedded into an old Grecian urn. The author took history in artwork and turned it into a lively poem, which showed the life and love of the time. The last stanza showed the turn by describing that such a scene came from this marble pot and how the important message of the story was written in a way which made it seem as if the urn was actually saying it.


Part 2) The urn shows images of an ancient village in which the speaker brings to life by taking the artwork from the artifact and turning its pictures into poetry. On the urn, the past of a village can be seen through drawings explaining history in a unique way. A historian is stated in the poem showing how the artwork explains the life of a village which does not exist in this time period. The artifacts lesson was located in “Tempe or the dales of Arcady,” which are places of poetry and beauty. The urn shows us that such a place is filled with sweet melodies and young everlasting love. The statement, “Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss but for ever wilt thou love,” shows that the urn is depicting the young who are in a deep love but cannot act upon it. Later the poem states, “All breathing human passion far above leaves a heart high-sorrowful,” showing these young lovers sexual desires, but such passion they exhibit cannot be, leaving their hearts full of sorrow and pain. Happy is repeated numerous times showing how love is in the air but also exaggerating the word for the lovers aren’t happy, for their passion cannot be. The first four stanzas depict the life of the little village as if the town existed, making the painting come to life in feeling the love and lust of the time. The last stanza clarifies the poem in a depiction of the urn for it states, “Of marble men,” and “thou silent form.” Such statements show that the people are marble for they are carved into the urn and are of silent form for they are a picture of the past. The conclusion the speaker of the poem wants you to reach is described in the last two lines which state, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all, Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” The speaker places such a line in quotes to make it more powerful as if the urn came alive and said it. Such a verse is saying artwork is a type of beauty but is also a depiction of the truth, providing one with facts from evidence not written. The urn teaches us such a lesson of beauty and truth by showing how the truth of the past can be displayed through a type of exquisite marble art. We would never understand the truth of history if it hadn’t been recorded in artworks or writings, which are beautiful in themselves.