1. Feature Menu Introducing the Selections Literary Skills Focus: Biographical Criticism Reading Skills Focus: Taking Notes/Re-Reading Writing Skills Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out—

2. In what different ways can people respond to tragic events? Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out—

3. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Introducing the Selections [End of Section] It is an ordinary day in Vermont. Then, a terrible accident occurs. A boy is sawing wood in his yard and looking forward to supper. What do people do when tragedy strikes?

4. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Literary Skills Focus: Biographical Criticism Some writers are deeply influenced by everyday life in the places they live. They use that world in poem after poem and story after story.

5. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Literary Skills Focus: Biographical Criticism These writers create works with people and scenes that have strong connections to people and scenes the writers know well. When you read their works, you get a sense of specific places each writer’s attitude toward a place and its people

6. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Literary Skills Focus: Biographical Criticism You use biographical criticism when you examine a text with the writer’s life in mind. Biographical criticism looks at how a writer’s work relates to his or her lifeexperiencesattitudes [End of Section]

7. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Reading Skills Focus: Taking Notes/Re-Reading Taking notes and re-reading help you compare a text with details from the writer’s life. Take notes as you read both the text and the writer’s biography. Re-read both texts to be sure you have noted all the possible biographical connections.

8. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Reading Skills Focus: Taking Notes/Re-Reading Into Action: As you read the two selections, use a chart like the one below to record the specific ways that Frost’s own life seems to be reflected in the text. [End of Section] Places lived Family background Important experiences Work/career Beliefs/attitudes Details in BiographyDetails in Text

9. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Writing Skills Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer Find It in Your Reading You can tell from this poem that Frost knew what it was like to use a buzz saw—and knew the danger of such work. As you read, note down how Frost describes the buzz saw— how it sounds and acts. [End of Section]

10. Vocabulary

11. rueful adj.: regretful. appeal n.: plea or call for help or sympathy. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Vocabulary

12. Almost everyone has felt rueful at one time or another... because almost everyone has done something that he or she regrets having done.

13. Luis felt rueful about his response to his opponent during the debate. In other words, he a.felt proud of his response. b.thought he would win the debate. c.wished he had said something different. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Vocabulary

14. Luis felt rueful about his response to his opponent during the debate. In other words, he a.felt proud of his response. b.thought he would win the debate. c.wished he had said something different. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Vocabulary

15. What do you do if you are unhappy with someone else’s decision? You might make an appeal—a plea or call—for that person to change his or her mind. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Vocabulary

16. The judge was deciding how large the fine for littering should be, so the guilty man lifted his eyes in appeal for Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Vocabulary a.victory b.sympathy c.escape

17. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Vocabulary The judge was deciding how large the fine for littering should be, so the guilty man lifted his eyes in appeal for a.victory b.sympathy c.escape

18. The End

19. QuickWrite

20. Write a few sentences about the various ways people you have observed respond to tragedies in your community or on the news. Explain how some people respond lovingly or supportively to such events. [End of Section] Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— QuickWrite

21. Meet the Writer

22. Robert Frost (1874–1963) won four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. Raised in New England, he spent most of his life there as a farmer, teacher, lecturer, and poet. Although fame didn’t come quickly or easily to Frost, he eventually became the best- known poet in the United States. [End of Section] Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Meet the Writer More About the Writer

23. Build Background

24. The title of this famous poem is an allusion—a reference to another literary work or a work in another field, such as science, history, psychology, or mythology. “Out, Out—” alludes to a famous speech by the title character in Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth. Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Build Background

25. In the play, Macbeth has just heard of his wife’s death, and he speaks bitterly of the shortness of life: Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out— Build Background “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” [End of Section]

26. Preview the Selection

27. In “Robert Frost: The New England Poet,” you will learn details of Robert Frost’s life. In “Out, Out—” the speaker tells the story of a tragic accident that occurs when an unnamed boy in rural Vermont is called to supper as he is cutting wood. [End of Section] Robert Frost: The New England Poet/ Out, Out—