Imagery used in Design

Design by Robert Frost

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.

Fat and white, White heal-all, Rigid, Death and blight, Witches’ broth, Spider, Froth, Dead wings, Night, Darkness, So small

The imagery in this poem, such as death and blight, witches’ broth, dead wings, night and darkness, to name a few, is very gloomy and disturbing. That imagery definitely goes along well with the theme of the poem; everyday life is a hardship of its own and even down to the little insect it is natures calling that it will be killed. I believe the questions towards the end question life itself. If the littlest insect of all is being killed then so will be greatest of mankind. Questioning the cycle of life, or better yet the cycle of death, is a good place for dark imagery and that is what we see here. Another use of imagery that Frost uses in this poem was a lot less obvious to me the first few times I read it. Of course his use of the word white caught my eye but I just could not put my finger on what he was trying to do. Of course until I realized the twisted meaning of the poem. The color white before each object symbolizes their innocence during this whole event of ending the moth’s life. When Frost begins to ask rhetorical questions it becomes obvious of the use of white imagery when he asks, “what had that flower to do with being white” and in the second stanza he called the flower a white heal-all but now it’s an “innocent heal-all”. When clicking on the heal-all link I was able to find out more about heal-all flowers then I knew before. There is irony in the heal-all image because it is a medicinal flower but in Frosts poem it is where death occurs. Not only does death occur on a medicinal flower but Frosts use of white also allows us to see the heal-all as an innocent object throughout the dark event. Through his obvious dark images and his irony of using white innocent images Frost gives great imagery reflecting the poems true meaning that the cycle of life is death no matter how small, in this case, or large the living object is.