Essay on Naturalism and Symbolism in the Poem Design by...

Naturalism and Symbolism in the Poem Design by Robert Frost The poem Design by Robert Frost is a sonnet written about mans relationship with nature. Frost deliberately uses the form of a sonnet, using the octave for a discussion and the sextet for questioning the fact that there is a force that controls our existence. There are natural characters and some degrees of irony also that give this poem a naturalistic feel. Frost uses the style of a sonnet in Design to present a philosophical problem - who controls our destiny. The octave is a single, smooth flowing sentence full of description. We are introduced to three things the narrator happened upon one day. There is a scene of contradictory pictures. The color of†¦show more content†¦What design is behind all of this he asks? All can be summed up in the final coupling. This is far from answering his question and only intensifies the problem. Only then, do we realize that he expects no answers. In Design, the normally blue heal--all, the normally black spider, and the moth, which can be any color are all weirdly white. The color white is a symbol of purity, and innocence. Since none of these elements are normally white, this adds a sort of eeriness to the picture. The spider holds the dead white moth like a rigid piece of satin cloth. By the end of the octet, the contrast between the positive images of the color white and the gruesomeness of the scene is made clear. Frost asks what evil forces caused such a coincidence for the flowers genetic mutation that made it white, and brought the white moth to happen upon white spider. This shows the irony of the white innocence because the spider has killed the moth. Murder can never be desribed as something innocent Frost offers two answers to the question of how the possibility of the three creatures came to be. There is a design of darkness of nature or of God. The first is that there is a force of evil at work . Some force that attracted the innocent moth to the predatory jaws of the evil spider that is hidden in the bloom of the white heal--all. The flowerShow MoreRelatedOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 PagesWide Web at: www.pearsoned.co.uk First published 2007  © Pearson Education Limited 2007 The rights of Joanne Duberley, Phil Johnson and John McAuley to be identified as authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior