Frost's Design

Robert Frost’s poem, “Design,” describes with vivid imagery the role of life and death by incorporating illustrations such as the “dimpled spider, fat and white,” the “white heal-all” and the moth, whose “dead wings carried like a paper kite.” The imagery of the color white is carried on throughout this poem. It is used to symbolize purity and innocence and is contrasted with the dark images of death. For example, the “ingredients of a witches’ broth” portrays a negative and dark illustration and is eerily reminiscent of death and all its wickedness.

Frost uses juxtaposition in order to emphasize the contrast between objects. For example, the flower’s name, color, and the object itself, all bring to mind positive thoughts and images. It is called a heal-all, it is white (which resembles pureness), and as a flower, it is seen as delicate, fragile, and gentle. However, this flower is also the site for death to occur and is compared to that of froth, which depicts a negative image of violent, foamy saliva often resulting from disease or death.

The same can be said for the spider. Although white in color and described as “a snow-drop spider,” this creature brings fear to others and perpetuates death. The description of the moth also contains juxtaposition. Frost describes the moth as a “rigid satin cloth.” Whereas satin is smooth, glossy, and silky, the word rigid means firm, stiff, and unyielding. The moth, who was once soft and light, has now succumbed to the cruel hands of death, causing it to become stiff and frozen. Perhaps this event symbolizes how innocence, at one time or another, must surrender to death.

In the second stanza Frost contemplates the incidence that just occurred. He realizes that this setting, the white spider killing the white moth on the white flower, is all too improbable. It is too much coincidence to be accidental. He questions why the spider climbed onto the flower, why the moth was steered toward that spider, why the normally blue heal-all was a rare color of white. It is in this moment that he realizes everything, no matter what their size or significance, has a predetermined path that they must follow. Death is a part of life and will always be present, for it is inescapable, inevitable, and imminent.