Breaf Analysis of Poems by Robert Frost

Robert Frost “Design”

2. The poem starts off with a white spider on a white heal-all which holds onto a white moth. Just the knowledge of knowing that it is a spider, not to mention a fat spider, it has a negative connotations because no one really likes them to be honest. Spiders symbolize death and mystery. As for the heal-all, it is a plant that is commonly used for medicinal purposes. The rhyme scheme and vowel sounds emphasized that they are ‘characters of death and blight.’

3. The first stanza has an observative tone to it. The narrator is telling their observation of a spider, plant, and a moth. The tone turns cynical in the third line where the narrator describes the moth as a “rigid satin cloth.” It describes its fragility when compared to a satin cloth but the rigidness conflicts with it frailty as well. The second simile that compares the subjects of the poem to a witches’ broth turns into a disgusting connotation.

4. The lines goes as “Then steered the white moth thither in the night?/What but design of darkness to appall?” The speaker asks what has to design things that resembles death but is ironically containing a sense of purity. If something that is pure is able to be cynical, it put wonders about how God may design much more complex organisms that are able to feel emotions and such.

5. Unlike the traditional Italian sonnet, the questions at the end of the poem are never answered which leaves the audience to answer it themselves. The design that God has made on everything shows within everything. If there was evil within something so small, it puts wonders of how God has design something more complex like humans. The ‘design of darkness’ is probably inherited by all things existing.

6. The last l...

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...stove. He wasn’t really disturbed by the fact it’s dead, but instead he says that the rooster tasted better than store bought chicken. After dinner, he played with the dead cat’s claws which sounds pretty cynical. Although he plays with its claws, he cries over it.

4. The poem’s theme relates to the idea of death and mortality. It is pretty much everywhere and exists in everything. The depressing thing about it is that people seem to overlook it or choose to ignore it. It is a possibility that the event of death has become a thing to be unnoticed and a norm. They boy knew at least four deaths during that day and witnessed some sickly horrifying stuff about the animals in his neighborhood. Knowing that he and his brother played with the cat’s corpse is really disturbing. The arrogance and attitude of death is so casual that it becomes something that is overlooked.