This is an important personal experience to take into consideration as you decipher the personification of the saw in this poem. One of the key concepts used in Frost's poem is the personification of the circular saw used by the boy. Frost uses terms like “snarled” and “distraught to present a tone and mood of malevolence and danger when describing the buzzsaw's actions. I believe that circular saw use in general could be replicating the effects of cholera, which eats away at an individual's small intestine. Additionally, there was no cure for cholera in 1900, so the terms “snarled” and “slammed” could be a possible replica of how dangerous cholera was at the time.