these themes and his use of nature in this way is undoubtedly Design. In this poem we see FrostÆs speaker focused on mortality, the harsh and often violent indifference of nature, and we see him question if there is any design, i.e., meaning in natureÆs scheme. We see the poem is typical of FrostÆs form, a short lyric of fourteen lines and two stanzas. In it, FrostÆs speaker is observing nature. He is watching a spider kill an insect. In the poem we see FrostÆs use of figurative language and symbolism to portray the connection between nature and man, as well as seeing his tendency to provide images of both the good (i.e. light) and bad (i.e. dark) aspects of existence.
In Design, the speaker notices a ôwhiteö spider on a ôwhiteö flower that is encasing a moth like a ôwhite pieceö of ôsatin cloth,ö (Frost, p. 1). All of these images of ôwhiteö or lightness are meant to symbolize the beauty of raw nature and of raw human perception. However, in contrast to these images, Frost also incorporates images of darkness into manÆs nature and, thereby, existence. For also in Design we see that there is ôdeathö and ôblight,ö ôwitchÆs broth,ö and ôdead wings,ö (Frost, p. 1). As such, we see the speaker wonder if there is any design that ôgovern[s] in a thing so small,ö or if it was all created ôby darkness to appall,ö (Frost, p. 1). Thus in the s
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