Robert Frost's Design Analysis Michelle McDaniel College

Robert Frost’s petrarchan sonnet, written in iambic pentameter, “Design,” questions the role of God in the world through predestination and divine intervention with the use of tone, juxtaposition, imagery, and symbolism. He does so by narrating a scene in the octave in which a spider holds its prey while standing on top of a heal-all, then by asking provocative questions about the occurrence of such in the sestet which follows.

“Design” has two separate tones with a shift after the first octave. The first part, being a narrative, is light and observant, such as it would be from an onlooker’s perspective, watching from afar instead of taking a personal role in the action described. Frost uses this tone to keep the poem neutral as he uses imagery and symbolism to bring about his point. The imagery is used specifically as symbolism in this piece, most obvious in the coloring of three objects: a white spider, fat with prosperity and cruel in its actions, a white flower which heals, and a white, dead moth, victimized by the spider. Juxtaposition can be seen within these symbolic elements, as the purity of the color white contradicts the actions of the spider, “fat” and “holding up a moth.” Not only do the colors contradicts the...