Blog #2: Robert Frost - "Design"

images:
-dimpled spider, fat and white
-white heal-all (flower)
-moth
-satin cloth, rigid
-death
-witches' broth
-snow-drop spider
-flower
-dead wings of a moth
-paper kite
-white flower
-wayside blue, innocent flower
-kindred spider
-height
-darkness/night
-small
patterns:
-rhyming couplet
-two lines rhyme, then switches
-line 10 breaks regular pattern, then rhymes 2 lines later, in pattern

    In Robert Frost’s poem “Design” he uses a traditional couplet style of rhyming. He rhymes two lines and then switches for the next two lines. There is only one break in the pattern at line 10, which he then works back into the poem.
    The imagery in Robert Frost’s poem “Design” is extremely detailed. In the first two lines, he introduces what I believe to be the three most important symbols in the poem: a spider, a month, and a flower.
    The description of these images in the poem allows for the reader to interpret a meaning by the end. Each individual is described delicately.
    The spider in this poem is described throughout as dimpled, fat, white, snow-dropped, and kindred. All of these images seem to be harmless, but while reading the poem, the spider is in fact the predator of the moth. The spider blends into the environment. Even though the environment to us is small and insignificant, occurrences such as this one happen every day, but are blended in so well, we do not notice.
    The moth is described as death, and having dead wings carried like a paper kite. These images are delicate. The moth seems innocent and fragile, but it’s life and it’s light was taken so easily and so quickly. Once again our attention is brought to a small act that normally we would not notice.
    The flower is the only major component that is not described as purely white. It is described as a white piece of rigid satin cloth, wayside blue, and innocent. The flower is the bystander in this situation. It was merely there for the incident between the spider and the moth. The significance of the flower being white is that the scene that is happening right in front of it, molds right into in the flower.
    I believe that this poem is really trying to open the readers eyes about life and death. It happens every day. Often times, like in the poem, it happens without the significance of it really affecting anyone. To many people, all they see is the innocent flower; the spider and the moth blend in. All these characters are white, the color of innocence, because death, which is generally represented through darker tones, is often hidden and people are unaware of its presence.