Design

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all*, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --
Assorted characters of death and blight*
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

*Heal-all—A type of flower or plant

*Blight—something that frustrates hopes; impairs; destroys

1. Describe the scene set up in the first stanza. What do you see? What are the three characters in the poem, and what is happening to each one?

2. What color is each character? What justifies the poet’s description of them as “characters of death and blight?”

3. Tone refers to the writers attitude toward a subject or life in general. Tone can be described as sarcastic, cynical, awed, tender, mocking, and so on. Tone is CREATED by language. What similes (comparisons using like or as) are used in the poem’s octave (first 8 lines)? How do they affect the tone of the poem?

4. What questions does the speaker ask in the sestet?

5. What is the answer in the final couplet? How would you explain what the “design of darkness” is?

6. Always look for ambiguity (multiple or unclear meanings) in Frost poems. His poems often suggest several meanings or contain contradicting details. In line 14, at the poem’s end, what reservation or doubt remains in his mind?

7. How does this last line affect the whole tone and meaning of the poem?

8. Describe the rhyme scheme of this sonnet (abba, abba, dcd, cdc?, aabb, ccdd, eeff, gg?) In your view, ,what key words or concepts do the rhyming sounds emphasize?

9. The critic Laurence Perrine said that although Frost’s brief poem sounds innocent enough, in it the poet “chillingly poses the problem of evil.” If you agree that this is the problem posed in the poem, give reasons for your opinion. If you disagree, state what you think is the poems central theme (hint, themes of sonnets are often found in the couplet or last two lines.