Frost's Use of Poetry Devices

One poetry device that Robert Frost uses effectively is simile. 

“A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth, / And dead wings carried like a paper kite.” (“Design” Frost 7-8).

This selection represents Frost's use of similes quite well. The speaker compares a flower to a froth and compares carrying the dead wings of the moth to carrying a paper kite. By using similes, Frost is able to set the tone. Froth can contribute to a more a gloomy tone. Also, the idea that a paper kite is being carried instead of flown contributes to a depressing tone.

A second poetry device that Robert Frost uses effectively is repetition.

“Making the gravel leap and leap in air, / Leap up, like that, like that, and land so lightly” (“Home Burial” Frost 79-80).

This selection is just one example of Frost's use of repetition. In this poem, the grieving wife, Amy, is speaking to her husband and describing how he dug their own son’s grave. Amy feels angry, and she is hurt because her husband does not seem phased by, what should have been, a traumatizing experience. The repetition used in describing how the husband dug the grave shows his systematic and seemingly unemotional approach to the situation.