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Robert Frost, "Design"

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Reading Questions

Text on p. 1057 of the full Ninth Edition and p. 810 of the shorter Ninth Edition.

5 10

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth— Assorted characters of death and blight Mixed ready to begin the morning right, Like the ingredients of a witches' broth— A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth, And dead wings carried like a paper kite. What had that flower to do with being white, The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?— If design govern in a thing so small.

Reading Questions

1. A Frost poem is meant to be read out loud. So read it out loud, several times, trying different emphases and tones of voice.

2. Picture in your mind the little scene of the first stanza, looking at the first three lines, the second three, then the last two and putting them in your own words. Then restate the three questions in the second stanza. Stop and think about the meanings of the words, perhaps looking up words like "blight," "froth," "kindred," and "appall."

3. If you have read this poem or other Frost poems before, what was your impression of the poet and what he says in his poems? Be careful that you don't conclude that he or his poems are simple, and don't immediately decide that you know what this poem is saying. There is far more ambiguity in Frost's poems, especially this one, than many readers realize. So try to consider your immediate interpretation as a tentative one which might be missing some of the undercurrents of the poem.

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