Robert Frost's 'Range-Finder'

Robert Frost, one of the most celebrated poets and writers in American history, is known for poems laced with metaphors and similes that are not always easy for readers to digest. Each poetic verse stands for a different reason, meaning, and purpose. One of Frost’s more complicated poems, “Range-Finding,” is actually quite simple. However, its meaning is not taken at face value. “Range-Finding” is an extremely metaphorical poem that surrounds the meaning of finding oneself. In another perspective, it could be about a way to discuss relationships, using nature. However, another way to interpret the poem is looking at war from the point of view of nature. Regardless of how it is interpreted, “Range-Finder” is full of literary techniques and

Petrarchan sonnets are composed of an octave and a sestet. “Range-Finder” is made up of two stanzas: three quatrains and a couplet. In the octave of the poem, a very distressing, heartbreaking scene of nature’s beauty being destroyed is introduced. The following sestet illustrates what comes after – the disappointment nature feels after it has been destroyed. The rhyme scheme of the poem goes by ABBAABBA – CCDEED. “Range-Finder” consists of 14 enjambment lines that continue on with very few punctuation but no line breaks. When punctuation is used, it is simple; Frost uses periods and commas when necessary, and only when wanting to stop long sentences. Sometimes, he skips over periods. The word “and” is used multiple times to begin a line, making the poem grammatical. Although it follows English conventions, it does not flow as smoothly as most of Frost’s poems. For example, in the first stanza, Frost says, “A butterfly its fall had dispossessed / A moment sought in air his flower of rest, / Then lightly stopped to it and fluttering clung (Frost, 6-8).” The rhyme scheme of the poem is very irregular and inconsistent, but goes along with the form of a Petrarchan sonnet. In terms of organization, Frost is as complicated as ever. The poem does not necessarily go in order; however, it is divided into two scenarios: during the “war” and after

The spider, unaware that her beautiful web had been struck by the bullet, ran to the hole, assuming it would find its next prey, but instead faced a wide and gaping hole that left her home destroyed. The disappointment of the spider embodies the disappointment of nature when it faces reality and the acts that humans bring into the world through their violence. Throughout the poem, informal language is used. While it cannot be said the language was a cacophony of words, it wasn’t entirely euphonic either. Frost says it how it is, and while there is personification (a fly “running” to greet a fly” (Frost, 13) and there are multiple metaphors (“The stricken flower bent double” (Frost, 4) and “O’ernight ‘twixt mullein stalks a wheel of thread” (Frost, 10)), the poem is full of difficult words and do not sound very