The Fate Of "Design" - Robert Frost

The "Design" Of Fate?

I thought that "Design" was an interesting poem because it uses the spider to describe Frost's views on things that are much larger and more universal. He suggests that everything has its own design, even things as small as spiders. I believe that this poem is about fate. Frost describes the spider at first as being light-colored and pure. From the very first line, the spider in Robert Frost's Design is quite unusual. A white spider is something most people don't see everyday. While reading the poem one wonders if the intense irony of the all white flower, moth and spider is just an incredible coincidence. White in this poem could be a symbol of purity or innocence. In the life process, nature just happens; making it pure and neutral. This situation makes the reader wonder how three very unusually colored beings are all interacting in the same place at the same time. More specifically the moth is darker; symbolizing death and loss of innocence. Frost now shows us that the spider isn't completely innocent; it is, after all, eating a moth. It shows that not everything is what it seems. It's interesting that he describes the spider in white and black - the white spider, the black moth. The poem suggests "ultimate design"- that these three pure things, just going about their business, are not engaged in an evil practice but involved in something so much bigger than themselves. The three beings are engaged in this completely beautiful, intriguing and terrifying "ultimate design". Frost could have made all of these things black- a symbol for all of the death and darkness that this event is. However, by choosing to make these beings white, Frost decides to play off the irony of three things, so pure of color committing an act so dark.

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