Analysis of Design by Robert Frost

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Robert Frost's "Design" is a Petrarchan sonnet that questions God's design of nature and if there truly is a design to life which is illustrated through the use of irony, simile, strong imagery, and a rhetoric question. The sonnet is composed of an octave with the rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA and a sestet with the rhyme scheme of ACAACC. The theme of the poem is written with a sense of admiration for nature, but a skeptic mind for the meaning behind the design of life. The tone at the beginning of the poem is meant to be one of awe than somber because the main components of the sonnet: the spider, moth, heal-all flower, and cloth are all white. The reader is also given a fresh perspective as the speaker, Robert Frost, is observing this in the morning. During the first stanza, Frost uses euphony to set the scene and tone as he describes the spider as dimpled and on a flower. As the second and third lines continue, the use of simile is portrayed when Frost compares a white flower to a satin cloth. A heal-all flower is usually shades of purple (Kansas Herbs), not fully white, which symbol...

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