"Design"

I came across this poem in my Reading Poetry class and immediately was drawn to its philosophical message. Throughout the semester finding true meaning has been a constant concern for philosophers. Obviously, “true meaning” is a rather broad topic: by true I mean right, correct, or good and by meaning I mean of everything. In the works of the philosophers that we’ve read God is a popular theme… though I find it interesting that no one has been attempting to validate the Devil. In Robert Frost’s poem “Design” he attempts to debunk the idea of an intelligent being by using a death ridden, tiny moment to point out the unintelligence and horror of death; a moment that could not be orchestrated by an intelligent being.

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 being 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.