Images: design, white, dimpled spider, heal-all (type of flower), moth, witches' broth, height, darkness
Among all the images that I listed above, “design” and “white” are essential images in this poem.
“Design” is, as you can see, the title of this poem and it appears twice in the last two lines, which is provides Robert Frost's, the author, thoughts or reasons for writing this poem. Term “white” appears multiple times in this poem and it connects all species: dimpled spider, heal-all, and moth that appear in this poem. These three species might be similar in color; a dimpled spider is the most distinctive of all.
In the first eight lines, Frost describes the dominance of the dimpled spider, preying on heal-all and moth. Further distinction of the dimple spider heal-all and moth can be seen on line four when Frost mentions “Assorted characters,” showing that the differences of 3 species, regardless of unity in their color white. And in line six, “a witches' broth” is a simile to the dimple spider's web to capture the prey. In addition, “witch” can be directly referring to the dimple spider itself, emphasizing that the dimple spider is “witch” who takes the form of human being. Although 3 species are similar in color, the dimpled spider is somewhat dominant character compare to heal-all and moth.
From line nine to fourteen, Robert Frost asks question why the dimpled spider is different from the other species and points out what made it so dominant. Although Frost only asks why the dimpled spider is different from other species, “kindred spider” on line eleven shows that having similar outward appearance does not necessarily means having the same ability or power. In last two lines, the word “design” appears twice. My analysis up until this point gives me clues that “design” might be referred to as some kind of structure, possibly a food chain or social structure of these three species. On last two lines, Frost shows how horrified he is with the “design” because such tiny species have the 'survival of fittest' “design.”
Robert Frost is telling us that the “design” is the main structure of ALL the species in this world
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