Allusion Notes: Macbeth’s “Out, out brief candle!”

“Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

· Macbeth in Macbeth has a soliloquy at the end of the play when he hears his wife cry out as she dies.

· Shakespeare is speaking through Macbeth. He is saying that existence for each of us is only a moment of light before emptiness and darkness.

· Before we are born, there is nothing.

· After we dies there is nothing. Only darkness.

· Being alive is like a brief light burning in the darkness.

· We think we are important and what we do in life has significance.

· But we are only a shadow that disappears when the light goes out.

How to Analyze a Poem:

Steps:

1. Identify Form:

a. Count and label stanzas

b. Count and label lines if not done already

c. Look for a rhyme scheme and identify

d. Look for a specific rhythm (look at the number of syllables in the first few lines.)

2. Identify the subject/situation of the poem.

3. Identify the speaker of the poem (NEVER assume the speaker is the poet)

4. Identify characters in the poem

5. Find shifts in the poem (in tone, speakers, time periods, etc)

6. Come up with a UT

7. Identify Literary Devices