Design Lyrics
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
1936
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
1936
About
Genius Annotation
Though very short and conveying a simple image of a spider landing on a flower, we soon realize that Frost is also questioning life and its cruelties.
Unlike most famous poets of the 20th century who were known for writing free-form poetry, Frost’s best-known poems stuck with traditional rhymes and meters (e.g. Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, The Road Not Taken)–“Design” is not an exception.
This poem takes the form of a Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet it consists of an ABBAABBA rhyming octave; the sestet is in a ACAACC form – the Italian sonnet allows for variations such as this in the sestet.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 16.Desert Places
- 26.Design
- 30.Unharvested
- 44.Not All There
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