How is the theme of loss explored in "Out, Out—" by Robert Frost?

In "Out, Out—," Robert Frost explores the theme of loss in a number of ways. Firstly, he uses the title of the poem to suggest that life is very fragile and that it is easily lost. To do this, Frost employs an allusion from Shakespeare's Macbethin which Macbeth uses the phrase "Out, out, brief candle" as he is musing about the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth. By naming his poem after this...

In "Out, Out—," Robert Frost explores the theme of loss in a number of ways. Firstly, he uses the title of the poem to suggest that life is very fragile and that it is easily lost. To do this, Frost employs an allusion from Shakespeare's Macbeth in which Macbeth uses the phrase "Out, out, brief candle" as he is musing about the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth. By naming his poem after this phrase, Frost shares Macbeth's belief that life is little more than an illusion and that it can be put out (just like a candle) at any moment.

In addition, Frost also explores the theme of loss from the boy's perspective. In this case, it is a loss of innocence which Frost touches upon: the young boy is out cutting wood for his family because he has to contribute to their survival. This is a significant burden for the young boy and he wishes to be freed from it, as shown by the following line:

"That a boy counts so much when saved from work."

Similarly, it is the boy's young sister who calls him in for supper, which hints at her domestic contribution to family life. Like her brother, the young girl is forced to help her family and, therefore, she has also lost her innocence.

Finally, Frost also explores loss in a literal sense: the boy loses his hand in an accident with a saw and, as a result, he also loses his life. To emphasize this sense of loss, Frost describes the boy's deathbed scene, in which he is surrounded by his family as he draws his last breath. Frost deals with the boy's death in a dark, yet pragmatic, way: the boy's family and the villagers do not spend time mourning his death and instead return to their daily lives, too consumed with the business of survival, as we see in the closing lines:

"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."