Analysis

Here we give you the analytical elements that will help you analyze “Dominion Over Nature” by Robert Pack. 

As regards the rhetorical situation, text is taken from a collection of essays called Belief and Uncertainty in the Poetry of Robert Frost and written by Pack in 2003. The collection of essays analyzes Frost’s poetry and sets out to interpret Frost’s writing. The sender here is Robert Pack, a poet and a great admirer of Frost’s writing.

The composition shows that Pack starts from a thesis regarding mankind’s mixed feelings towards nature, then continues with two arguments, which he explains logically. The text ends with a conclusion which Pack draws from the two arguments he presented before.

Pack’s style of writing is formal and educated, as the excerpt is taken from a collection of essays. However, the text is relatively clear and aims to help the reader understand the issues under discussion.

To convey his idea about mankind’s ambivalence towards nature, Pack uses a few rhetorical devices. For instance, he uses the reference to The Book of Genesis from the Bible to support his argument.

When it comes to the forms of appeal, the text relies on ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is used in connection with religion and God, pathos is used to create a sense of responsibility in the readers, while logos comes in the shape of logical arguments to support Pack’s thesis.

The argumentation used by Pack is pretty straightforward. Pack presents his ideas directly, giving two arguments – which he explores – to support his thesis. 

You can find a full analysis of the text in the following pages.