Literary Analysis of Design; Robert Frost’s Use of Literary Devices to Explore Religion
Robert Frost was an extremely influential American poet who lived and wrote predominately in New England during the early 1900s. His poetry was considered exceptional, not only by his intellectual peers but by the general public as well, due to the fact that Frost often wrote about approachable topics. One of the most distinguished themes Frost explored was his reverence for God, and while Frost was faithful to his religion, he often times questioned certain aspects of faith within his poetry, for example in his poem Design, but this religious doubt interspersed throughout his works only increased the fascination of his readers. In the poem Design, author …show more content…
Examples of lighter, purer diction are words such as “white” (1), “heal-all” (2), “snow-drop” (7), and “innocent” (10), all used by Frost to describe aspects of the spider and the flower. These words are often in reference to the color white, and here these words are used by Frost as an emblem for innocence and purity, two descriptors typical of God and God’s power. Yet, if the reader looks closer still within this poem, they would see another kind of word choice used by Frost to convey a whole other meaning, more specifically Frost’s decision to include words like “rigid” (3), “death” (4), “blight” (4), “kindred” (11), “darkness” (13) and “appall” (13). These words all follow the general trend of being morbid, and descriptors of the horrible fate that met the moth. Furthermore, the reader can see Frost’s intention of questioning how a God who could both create and symbolize purity and innocence, could be responsible for creating a situation where only gruesome words can describe the event. Overall, the reader is apt to see the two opposing sides of God that Frost intends them to see; the first being a divinity who can conjure up innocent and holy surroundings, and the second being a powerful and mighty dictator of …show more content…
One example of wordplay used by Frost can be seen in line 2, when he tells the reader that the flower occupied by the flower is a “heal-all”, wordplay because the spider is currently brutally killing a moth right on top of the “heal-all”. This is an excellent demonstration of how Frost used wordplay to juxtapose the two aspects of God, life or healing, and death. Another key example is seen when Frost writes “Mixed ready to begin the morning right”, where the literal meaning would be that the the spider is preparing for it’s day by eating this moth, starting his morning off in a good way. But, the reader should see that there is a double entendre here, when spoken, “morning right” sounds exactly the same as “mourning rite”, which is completely different. “Mourning rite” is more indicative of a ritual of mourning, perhaps that the spider is aware, to a degree, of how his frequent ritual (of eating, of surviving) causes death, and the spider mourns the death he caused. In summation, the wordplay in Design serves an ultimate goal of asking the reader to share Frost’s perception that God is a contradiction,
Robert Frost was an extremely influential American poet who lived and wrote predominately in New England during the early 1900s. His poetry was considered exceptional, not only by his intellectual peers but by the general public as well, due to the fact that Frost often wrote about approachable topics. One of the most distinguished themes Frost explored was his reverence for God, and while Frost was faithful to his religion, he often times questioned certain aspects of faith within his poetry, for example in his poem Design, but this religious doubt interspersed throughout his works only increased the fascination of his readers. In the poem Design, author …show more content…
Examples of lighter, purer diction are words such as “white” (1), “heal-all” (2), “snow-drop” (7), and “innocent” (10), all used by Frost to describe aspects of the spider and the flower. These words are often in reference to the color white, and here these words are used by Frost as an emblem for innocence and purity, two descriptors typical of God and God’s power. Yet, if the reader looks closer still within this poem, they would see another kind of word choice used by Frost to convey a whole other meaning, more specifically Frost’s decision to include words like “rigid” (3), “death” (4), “blight” (4), “kindred” (11), “darkness” (13) and “appall” (13). These words all follow the general trend of being morbid, and descriptors of the horrible fate that met the moth. Furthermore, the reader can see Frost’s intention of questioning how a God who could both create and symbolize purity and innocence, could be responsible for creating a situation where only gruesome words can describe the event. Overall, the reader is apt to see the two opposing sides of God that Frost intends them to see; the first being a divinity who can conjure up innocent and holy surroundings, and the second being a powerful and mighty dictator of …show more content…
One example of wordplay used by Frost can be seen in line 2, when he tells the reader that the flower occupied by the flower is a “heal-all”, wordplay because the spider is currently brutally killing a moth right on top of the “heal-all”. This is an excellent demonstration of how Frost used wordplay to juxtapose the two aspects of God, life or healing, and death. Another key example is seen when Frost writes “Mixed ready to begin the morning right”, where the literal meaning would be that the the spider is preparing for it’s day by eating this moth, starting his morning off in a good way. But, the reader should see that there is a double entendre here, when spoken, “morning right” sounds exactly the same as “mourning rite”, which is completely different. “Mourning rite” is more indicative of a ritual of mourning, perhaps that the spider is aware, to a degree, of how his frequent ritual (of eating, of surviving) causes death, and the spider mourns the death he caused. In summation, the wordplay in Design serves an ultimate goal of asking the reader to share Frost’s perception that God is a contradiction,