An Analysis Of Robert Frost's Range-Finding

Decent Essays
I chose Robert Frost's "Range-Finding" because it initially confused me. It took several readings and the definition of range finding before I understood the poem was about a war. Range-finding is the practice of firing a gun to determine the distance of a target. Composed of two stanzas, the poem describes the way range-finding affects nature. Frost uses an end rhyme scheme that gives the poem a classic feeling.

The theme of the poem is: War can have unseen effects on an environment. I believe the theme, though important, does not drive the poem. Instead, I believe the poem utilizes a visual mode to propel it forward. Frost depicts a quiet pasture that is interrupted by the act of range-finding. This depiction is accomplished by describing

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The title of this poem is “Range-Finding” which is something that soldiers did during world war 1 to see how far they could shoot a bullet accurately. This is what the shooter in this story is doing and successfully hits his target. This poem does talk about how far the bullet travels, but more importantly it talks about how far the effects are being felt. The effects are being felt far past the shooter and the person who is getting shot is goes to all the creatures in between.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I think what happens in the poem is a war. The message could be what the truth about wars…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    TPCASTT Analysis 1. The title, Editing the Prairies, can provoke many feelings in a reader. For instance, a reader who lives in the prairies may wonder what editing needs to be done to their great home. A person living on the prairies knows the wonders of the lands: from the land’s beautiful sunsets, to the hard work their ancestors performed to build the prairies into what they are today. A reader may think there is nothing to edit about the prairies, for in its entirety, it is perfect and in no need for alterations.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    *This poem is written from the perspective of a single bullet passing through a battle field, and how it significantly impacts nature, before reaching a human. *This poem’s entirety speaks levels on how a single bullet and everything it touches is effected, including nature. “And cut a flower beside a ground bird’s nest” Indicates that the bullet had cut and destroyed a flower, right next to a bird’s nest (2). “And still the bird revisited her young.” Meaning, despite the horror of the war, nature will still continue working, regardless of what is going on between humanity (5).…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As one of the most iconic American poets, Robert Frost’s work has stood the test of time. Though born in California, Frost moved to New England at age eleven and came to identify himself as a New Englander. That self-identification would become a staple of his later works as he would invest “in the New England terrain” and make use of the “simplicity of his images” (Norton Anthology, p. 727) accompanied by uncomplicated writing to give his poems a more natural feel. Frost’s poems were generalized by certain types: nature lyrics, which described a scene or event, dramatic narratives or generalizations, and humorous or sardonic works. His widely anthologized poem “Fire and Ice” falls between the categories of nature lyrics while also being somewhat…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tim O Brien Analysis

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In many of his poems, he uses nature as a metaphor. He uses it as a way to kind of guide the readers to make a connection between his use of literary devices and the message that Frost is trying to get across to…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Among the Red Guns is a poem written by Carl Sandburg that portrays a speaker describing details of war. However, who the speaker is and what gender they are is made unclear throughout the poem. Notable in this poem is that the speaker continues to use the phrase, “dreams go on.” Sandburg uses literary devices such as imagery, tone, and repetition to help illustrate and provide information about war and its difficult aspects. Most importantly, Sandburg utilizes these literary devices in order to inform the audience that regardless of conflict, there is always hope (dreams).…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sometimes you need boundaries and those boundaries may be bad or good. In the poem, the wall separates the two neighbors but also brings them together. Robert Frost uses metaphors to show a deeper understanding of the poem. With all of these different poems that I have mentioned the conclusion is very simple. Robert Frost is a poet of enormous talents.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Katasha Pollard Intro to Lit. Kelly Gamble 10/12/15 Robert Frost Robert Frost’s poems and stories bring him alive as a person and poet, showing him in the process of thinking through, reevaluating, and stating many of his most important beliefs, ideas, interpretations, and rhymes. The poems and stories are interesting in themselves. They show a noteworthy intelligence at work and provide access to the (typically hidden) processes underlying Frost’s pieces, as well as a set of his most important concerns. Also the most important are Frost’s general explanations on human nature, behavior, also on social and governmental association (these often struck me as remarkably perceptive of modern scientific and ethical view).…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What distinguishes Robert Frost from the majority of other writers, was how long he was an unknown writer, yet how fast his fame grew. This composition described the slow and steady rise of Robert Frost’s reputation. It was rather difficult for Frost. He traveled to England in his late thirties because his work was not published and mainly disregarded in America. He was helped and inspired by his literary friends from England and also his beloved wife and children.…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frost’s poem is a personal, almost romantic telling of his own experiences. The inspiration for “The Road Not Taken” seems to have originated as a jest towards close friend, and fellow poet; Edward Thomas. When Frost and Thomas lived in Gloucestershire; they took daily walks through the countryside. Thomas in an attempt to show his American friend rare plants or a great view; would choose different routes each day. However, Thomas would never be fully satisfied with the path he chose, and would habitually fuss over his unchangeable choice.…

    • 137 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frost is the type of writer to keep religion and politics away from his poetry, and that is why he is so in tuned with nature throughout most of his poems because he makes it his focal point. The scenery and lifestyle of New England may seem generic and simple, but Frost put a deeper and darker meaning to all his poems out of plain sight. Even though “Fire and Ice” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” convey different meanings, each poem uses the imagery of Nature and similar structure to convey their themes. In “Fire and Ice”, Frost wants to pose an idea of the wonder of his exact interpretation of his poem.…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Although the poem vaguely hints and describes where it takes place, the first few stanzas describe the time, place and atmosphere of the poem. The introductory lines portray the time as it being: “Once upon a midnight dreary,” also adding the state of the speaker “while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore” (1-2). Followed later in the second stanza by the season in which the story takes place: “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,” (7). These ideas shape the atmosphere and setting in the poem. In literature, winter is a motif that signifies or suggests death, stillness, sadness and similar associated ideas.…

    • 1508 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Even a century long time after his death, Wilfred Owen is still famous for his war poetry written during World War 1. In his poem, Owen uses various language techniques to vividly illustrate the horrendous reality of the war. Hence, he communicates his own anti-war feelings implied beneath his techniques. However, although he is now known as an anti-war poet, for once, he had been a naive boy, who had volunteered to fight in war. At first, he was thrilled to fight for one’s country.…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ’s travels very ____ (as seen by the lines, “I have climbed the hills of view/ And looked at the world, and descended.”) Frost paints a picture of the man traveling up and over the rounded hills, a very continuous, flowing image. The unique meter also enhances the flow of this poem; the final line is shorter than all of the other lines in each stanza.…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays