Robert Frost Design Rhyme Scheme

Frost’s “Design” challenges the age old question of human existence: why? The sonnet describes a spider consuming a moth, an event one might argue is commonplace in nature. Interestingly enough, however, the feast (or murder – your choice) takes place on a heal-all plant. Taking into consideration the plant’s healing potential, the speaker addresses the nature of the universe; its design. What exactly determines the structure and function of our world and its inhabitants? Through its conflicting imagery and broken rhyme scheme, “Design” explores the possibility of forces acting upon our universe and proposes the idea that perhaps there is no force governing the world.

“Design” begins with a number of conflicting images. The speaker claims to have found “a dimpled spider, fat and white” (line 1). Immediately, one is stricken with a sense of confusion; a white, dimpled spider is quite a rarity in most parts of the world, I would assume. The speaker continues to

The final two lines question what other than a “design of darkness” could be responsible for the three-way meeting (13). If not a grand design by a grand designer, then what? In the initial octave, the speaker seems to lean toward the idea that it is a rigid design. The rhyme scheme is more rigid and consistent as the speaker points out that the scene is very formulaic, as evidenced by the witches’ broth metaphor. Following the volta, however, the rhyme scheme goes awry. As the speaker expresses his doubt regarding a rigid design, each question exists as its own rhyming couplet. Typically, Petrarchan sonnets have a rhyme scheme consistent to the octave and to the sestet. “Design” follows this pattern in the octave, but the sestet shakes things up a bit, perhaps reflecting the speaker’s doubts over the design of the universe. Clearly the speaker is troubled with the idea of a world governed by a formulaic