Comparing The Landmine And The Rope In Melissa Range's Poems

Although the Landmine and the Rope in Melissa Range’s poems are both made to participate in horrifying violence against the innocent, the Landmine reveals its boastful indifference by twisting imagery of life and hope into a grotesque threat to haunt the world of peace long into the future, while the Rope reveals its humble sympathy by longing for a future that redeems violence by affirming life and beauty.
The Landmine and the Rope are both tools of death throughout the two poems. The Landmine claims it will “bloom into a bouquet for an amputee” (4), vividly describing the pain and suffering that it will cause to whoever is unlucky enough to cross its path, even “children”(8). The fact that the Landmine mentions children as a potential victim proves that whether someone is an enemy or not, their lives are in danger. The Landmine is unavoidable, as it is “in hiding, but can’t be smoked out”(5), giving no chance for the victim of this weapon to escape. Once the landmine is

When the Landmine states that its victims are its “harvest, release, and the sole/(10) reason for it sojourn in the soil”(11), it is expressing its great level of satisfaction that comes with killing people, innocent or not. The Landmine shows complete disregard for life and morality through its description of what it does and hopes to do to people. Even when there are times of peace, violence follows soon after. When the Landmine says, “I’ll be here after all your wars have ceased.”(14), it is relaxing, because the war is finally over. However, the Landmine follows that statement up, by saying “I’ve been buried, but I won’t rest in peace”(15), hinting at the idea that even though it is peaceful at the moment, the second it is triggered it will inflict pain and cause an