Robert Frost's "Design"

There are a couple of recurring images seen throughout Robert Frost’s poem “Design.” One example is the continual mention of the color white, and another example is of the interplay between life and death.

White is the color which often symbolizes innocence and purity, and is a color which Frost relies heavily upon in this poem. In “Design,” Frost appropriately uses the color white to describe the moth, and innocent victim that falls prey to the spider. The moth is described as a “rigid piece of satin cloth,” as well as referred to as a “paper kite,” both objects which can be imagined as frail and delicate. The beauty of the moth, however, is contrasted to the image given of the spider. The spider is another white object, however the color used in this manner symbolizes a kind of irony. The spider, “fat and white,” is not really an innocent player in this poem, rather he is a deadly killer waiting to ensnare victims such as the moth. His color is contrasted by the bulbous shape of his body, probably so large from eating many an unsuspecting victim. This whole scene which Frost is describing occurs on yet another white object, the heal-all, which is a type of flower. The white flower is appropriately the image of purity and innocence, and any passerby would be unsuspecting as to the murder taking place within such a delicate object.

Another continual comparison which Frost makes is the contrast between life and death. The fat, healthy spider is sitting upon the flower, ready to feast upon the lifeless, papery body of the moth. The heal-all as well is alive and healthy, yet plays a contributing part in assisting the spider trap his victims.

Frost ends by questioning how each object, the spider, moth, and flower, all happened to participate in the events which occur in the poem. He implies that the design of such small events follows a certain pattern, and it is simply part of the life cycle that such things occur. Life and death are natural, and thus even those like the spider, who had to kill a moth to survive, play an innocent role in such matters.