[design schmanign]

In “Design,” Robert front describes the natural, everyday occurrence of a spider capturing a moth but lays it out under an unlikely light. The thought of this event is not one commonly thought of in a cheerful or light way, however Frost defies this. 

He utilizes both dark and light imagery in the poem, to provide an effective “foil,” further highlighting darkness and/or lightness. The poem begins with a “fat and white” spider, already providing stirring something up in the mind, given that a vast majority of us would imagine a black spider when asked to envision a spider in our minds. In the third line, the moth is described as looking like a “white piece of rigid satin cloth.” Again, our common preconceptions are challenged, as satin is usually associated with being “flowing” or “free” and instead it is “rigid” (conveying that the moth is dead). Following the first three lines in which “white” is used once in each line, he introduces “death” and “blight” providing an immediate contrast. Then, in the very next line, he calls this event a “morning right.” First, there is the juxtaposition of “death” and “blight” --both means of ending--  and “morning” --a beginning. Frost continues with his utilization of foil images. “Witches’ broth” (dark imagery) is juxtaposed with “a flower like a forth” (light imagery).  In line 8, the “dead wings” of the moth are compared to a “paper kite,” an image associated with liveliness and being free, everything the moth is not. 

Frost manages to create a seamless balance of dark and light imagery. This is akin to the balance that the “morning right” described in the poem contributes to. Just as there is “design” in how Frost meticulously chose his diction and line placement, there is a very particular purpose in a spider capturing a moth for breakfast/lunch/dinner. The amalgamation of dark and light in the poem also reflect how Frost is detecting a certain kind of beauty in an event that is most conventionally thought of as grotesque.

photo credits:

http://www.blushpretty.com

http://crunchator.blogspot.com/