Mending Wall by Robert Frost

                                     Mending Wall

“ Mending wall” is philosophical poem of Robert Frost in which he comments on the secretive attitude of modern man, every human being in present times has become a castle, he does not want to come out of that secretive attitude and he would not allow any other person to knoed about it. This secretive attitude of modern man it’s brought to light in the present poem.

The subject matter of the poem is repairing of a wall between the house of a poet and his neighbor. The poet is not in favor of having a wall between his house and the neighbor house. But his neighbor is instating own having a wall. The poet finds the present of some unseen force or element which does not like the wall. That is the reason why wall is a having gapes and cracks in it. The implied meaning is that god does not want a man should remain away and aloof from the other man. But the neighbor of the poet is of different opinion. He believes that there must be a wall because, “ good fences make good neighbors”. The neighbor prefers to repair that wall again and again because he would like to keep distance from the poet. Poet compares him self with an orchard of an apple and his neighbor with the forest of pine trees. It’s suggests that the nature of poet is different from that of his neighbor. His neighbor poets stones on the wall and arranges these stones with a good balanced. So that those stones may not fall down. The poet doesn’t like it because he does not want any wall between his house and his neighbor’s house.

The present poem is sarcastic remark on human relations in modern time. The attitude of modern man has become so strange and secretive that he does not want to share any matter or object of his own with others. He would like to keep a wall around him in such a way that there may not be any interaction between him and others. This attitude of modern man is highlighted in the present poem.

Symbols:

1) Wall and fences 

The wall is the shining star of this poem. It unites our speaker and his neighbor, but separates them as well. As we hear the neighbor speak the proverb twice ("Good fences make good neighbors"), we start to consider all of the wall-like structures in our life: fences, gates, boundaries, lines, etc. The wall serves as a canvas upon which a lot of complex ideas about the ways in which people, and their relationships with others, are painted and discussed.

2) Nature and tradition:

Nature seems to act as the third wheel in this poem – the silent character swirling around the speaker and his neighbor. Although he doesn’t explicitly describe the landscape, we see it very clearly, and we seem to know what the seasons are like in this part of the world. Similarly, tradition seems to be the silent subject over which the speaker and his neighbor wrestle. The neighbor upholds his ancestors’ way of life, while our speaker questions this philosophy.

Themes

1) Man and natural world

Our speaker takes great pains to describe the setting of this New England countryside. He tells us right off the bat, "Something there is that doesn’t love a wall/ That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,/And spills the upper boulders in the sun," (lines 1-3). In doing so, he points nature. Nature seems to be the unnamed culprit who, in addition to hunters, continues to destroy the wall. As the poem unfolds, we learn how spring (and all of its feverish weather and spirit of new life) makes our speaker a bit mischievous. We see in this poem the sharp contrast between the natural and the artificial, nature and man.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall (line 1)

Doesn’t this first line sound like a riddle, or like a sentence flipped upside down? To us, this "something" sounds pretty darn mysterious and big, and the sentence construction makes us feel like this "something" lurks very near. How would the effect differ if the first line is, "there is something that doesn’t love a wall" or even, "someone doesn’t love a wall?"

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun,

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. (lines 2-4)

Wow, this "something" sure is something. Here, we understand that this entity can make frost appear, and, thus, disturb the rock wall. We think it’s interesting that there are three monosyllabic verbs stacked neatly on top of each other in these lines: "that sends," "and spills," "and makes." Such verbs make us feel the momentum that they describe, and we start to think that the "something" is kind of all-powerful and cool.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game (line 21)

Because the rock wall is man-made, the business of sticking little, round stones back into the wall is the work of maintaining this artificial, man-made thing-a-ma-bob. The speaker’s nonchalant attitude toward the mending process contrasts with the more serious, ominous attitude that he possesses in the beginning of the poem when he says, "Something there is that doesn’t love a wall" (line 1).

2) Tradition and customs:

When the neighbour first says, "Good fences make good neighbours," we know that we’ve heard this saying before. When he echoes it at the end of the poem, we realize that this saying was passed down to our neighbour from his father. In this way, the neighbour represents tradition and custom, relying on the past to serve as his guide. The speaker describes his neighbour as "an old-stone savage," making us think of a Neanderthal or caveman. In so doing, our speaker seems to challenge old-school methods, and paints a picture of the wall as antiquated or uncivilized.

But spring mending-time we find them there. (line 11)

This broken wall thing happens like clockwork. Every spring, the speaker realizes that the wall needs mending. Why spring? Is this because the speaker doesn’t really get out much in the cold New England winter, and, so, the first time he’s able to inspect the wall is when the weather gets nicer? If this is your wall, would you put up with needing to mend it every spring, or would you take some preventative measures to try to keep it intact?

I let my neighbour know beyond the hill; (line 12)

Does this mean that there is a hill between our speaker’s property and his neighbour’s house? In that case, between the wall and the hill there are two barriers. As part of the annual mending wall custom, we think it’s downright fascinating that the speaker is the one who starts up the "Hey, neighbor, let’s go mend that wall" conversation. But, he doesn’t like the wall, right? Or, maybe he does like the wall? Perhaps, he likes the opportunity to hang out with someone else every year, even if they are on separate sides of the wall?

He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbours.’ (line 27)

This neighbour is one quiet dude. We think it’s a little creepy that the only thing he says for himself (ever) is this proverb. Not only that, but it’s not a proverb that he stumbles upon himself – his father passes it down to him. We have a very hard time visualizing this neighbour because he only speaks in clichéd, proverb form. He seems like a very generalize-able man, as compared with our mischievous speaker.

3) Language and communication:

There is definitely disconnected between our speaker and his neighbor. They work together to mend the wall, but they don’t talk to each other as they go along. The speaker wishes to put a "notion" in his neighbor’s head, but he doesn’t actually attempt to challenge his neighbor’s love of the wall. The wall takes on greater meaning as we watch the lines of communication shut down between the speaker and his neighbor.

I have come after them and made repair (line 6)

Why doesn’t out speaker just ask the hunters not to hunt on his property? Or, why doesn’t he just post a sign saying, "No Bunny Hunting?" Instead, he seems locked in some passive-aggressive battle with the disrespectful hunters, and he seems content to follow after them and clean up.

4) Exploration:

When we talk about "exploration" here, we don’t necessarily mean Christopher Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci. Our speaker explores uncharted waters as he begins to question why there needs to be a wall between his property and his neighbor’s property. Our speaker challenges the old-school values that his neighbor embodies.

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, (lines 8-9)

Does exploration involve an end-goal? Like the speaker trying to solve the mystery of the wall, these hunters try to corner little bunny rabbits. If we follow this comparison through, the hunters parallel the "something" that doesn’t love a wall, and the bunny rabbits parallel, perhaps, the meaning of the wall. Can it be that we, the readers of this poem, are like the hunters, too? Are we trying to find something or figure something out, as well?

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head: (lines 28-29)

Does the speaker seem a little arrogant to you here? Why doesn’t he just express this notion, rather than wonder if he can somehow magically make his neighbour rethink the whole wall thing? How can anyone go about putting a notion in another person’s head? At this moment, the speaker seems to explore the realms of his neighbour’s mind

5) Versions of reality:

There’s a whole lot of imagining and speculating in this poem. For example, from lines 30-37, our speaker imagines the thoughts his neighbor might think if he questions the necessity of his old stone wall. The speaker’s reality and that of his neighbor are very different, and these contrasting versions of reality form the backbone of the juicy debate which takes place in the world of this poem: old vs. new, tradition vs. innovation, isolation vs. community.

The work of hunters is another thing: (line 5)

The hunters definitely destroy the wall, but their "work" is very different from the work of another force which seems to be in play. Why does the speaker bring the hunters up if he knows that they have nothing to do with the "something" that doesn’t love a wall? What role do the hunters play in this poem?

We keep the wall between us as we go. (line 15)

Just as the speaker and his neighbour have two different perspectives on the importance of and need for a wall, they literally have two different sides. The wall separates their versions of reality.

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’ (lines 18-19)

The speaker and his neighbour venture into the realm of (pretend) magic in order to fix their wall. The "spell" they invoke here makes us think of the "elves" that the speaker mentions later on in the poem. The silliness of such things contrasts greatly with the seriousness of the task at hand.

The Gift Outright by Robert Frost

                        The Gift Outright

The Gift Outright by Robert Frost deals with a serious Issus of the united states (US). It is about a constant conflict going on between the native people of America and the settlers of colonizers, who made USA that permanent home. The poem is addressed by a descendent of the settlers and it is addressed to the native community. The poem is infect a request of the descendent to the native people to accept the settlers as one part of native community.

The poem opens with the tone of request in which the descendant of settlers says that he has accepted that country as his motherland, but still he has not been accepted as a native by the people of that country. The descendant considers every state of the US as his home but still he is treated as a colonized and as an outsider by the people of that country. It is this different which pains the descendant.

The descendent admits that for a long span of time he himself and many other descendent remain aloof did not mix with the native community. But now a change has come in the attitude of the descendent and he has surrendered to the native people. The settlers have realized that there is no salvation for them if there is no surrender from their side. This descendent in the present poem would like to offer himself as if gift to the native people. His request to the native people is to see that he is accepted as a gift and not rejected.

The present poem can be considered a polite request of the descendent of colonizers to accept all descendent as the native people of America. He agrees that in the past many conflicts and wars have taken place but that has not sold the problem of conflict between the native people and colonizers. So he wants to offer himself as a gift to the native people. The descendents of colonizers may be artless, without any story of their own, but he would be happy if he is accepted as gift. Robert Frost himself experienced this conflict between the native and the settlers and here he tries to give a solution to that problem. The problem of conflict between native and colonizers can we solved only with love. Violence has no place in it.

Stopping by woods on a snowy evening by Robert Frost

           Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

“ Stopping by woods on a snowy evening is one of the most celebrated poem of Robert Frost. The first prime minister of free ( Independent ) India pandit Javaharlal Nehru was so much impressed with the message of this poem that he always kept this poem on the table beneath the glass. The poem is simple but the message which it conveys is significant. The poem is about poet’s going to the forest, getting tempted to stay there and finally realized that he has many works to be done by him and so he can not stop in the forest. It is a poem about the internal love for beauty and sense of beauty. This kind of dilemma witnessed by every person at some stage in life. We all are some times tempted by beauty of nature to stop there for a long time but the work which is to be done by us reminds us of our duty and we do not stop for a long time, where that beautiful place is. This truth of life is conveyed by the poet through present poem.

The subject mettar of the poem is simple, poet goes to a dark, deep, lovely forest on his horesh back. It is such a beautiful place that the poet is tempted to stop there and passed that night in the forest but the horse of the poet shakes it’s head to ring the bells which are tide to it’s harness. The horse want’s to ask the poet wheter he is mistaken in making a stay in that forest. The reson is it is the darkest evening, the lack is frozen and the snowfall is there. Such a gesture of his horse reminds the poet that the woods are lovely, dark and deep but he has so many promises to keep. He has to performed many duties before he sleeps in the forest and before he dies. The final message of the poem is that sense of beauty in life is more important than tempting beauty. No tempting beauty should ever prove to be a hindrance on the path of duty. Indian ideology of Karma also can be applied here.

Themes

1) Isolation

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a lonely poem, for our speaker finds himself far away from any other human being. He kind of digs this aloneness, however, and is glad that no one is there to watch him. We get the feeling that he'd rather be all by his lonesome in the freezing cold than back in the village. Nature helps make things even lonelier, too, for it happens to be freezing cold, snowing, and dark out there.

His house is in the village though (2)

Why does the owner of the woods live in town and not near his woods? And have you ever heard of someone owning woods? We've heard of people owning land, but owning woods seems like an entirely different matter. When we hear the word "woods," we think of an untamable, wild expanse. With this second line, our speaker draws a clean line between the village and the woods. They are like oil and water.

He will not see me stopping here (3)

Our speaker is one paranoid man. The way he uses the word "see" instead of "catch" or "find" or "discover" makes us think that he is worried that someone might be hiding in the trees, watching him. There's also something very forceful about the words "will not," as though the speaker is commanding the landowner or reassuring himself that no one is watching. In any case, our speaker seems to want pretty badly to be alone.

The little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near (5-6)

We might think it was a bit strange, too, if you stopped in the middle of nowhere. At least there's a horse around. And this is not just any horse – this horse is very humanlike in our book. This horse has thoughts and opinions. Our speaker is not entirely alone.

And miles to go before I sleep. 

And miles to go before I sleep. (15-16)

We've reached the end of the poem, and we still don't know if our speaker has a family or if anyone is waiting up for him at home. The word "I" appears five times throughout the poem, and we get the feeling that our speaker is one individualistic kind of guy.

2) Choices

The speaker in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" makes several choices, many of which his dearly beloved horse does not agree with. The biggest choice that he wrestles with is whether to return to the warmth and safety of the village or to stay and watch the woods fill up with snow. Our speaker does seem to have a hard time making his decision. He ultimately decides to return home, but it seems to take all of his willpower.

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow. (3-4)

Choice #1: our speaker decides to stop and watch the snow fall on trees. Why is this a significant choice? Well, it's getting late, it's cold, it's snowing, and he's still a long way from home. It may seem like a docile, serene scene, but we're worried he's going to get frostbite if he stays too long. Get it? Frost-bite? Hehe.

The little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near. (5-6)

Now we get a little more information about our speaker's choice to stop and watch the woods. Allegedly, he's chosen to stop at a place that is far, far away from any other humans. What does that say about him? We also would like to point out that our speaker is trying to figure out what his horse is thinking, which means that he must be kind of aware of how random it is to be stopping in the middle of nowhere.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake. (9-10)

You ring those bells, horse. We would too. Why do you think Frost uses the word "mistake" here? What mistake could the horse possibly be referring to?

3) Man and natural world

We're not going to lie, nature seems pretty darn scary in this poem. Not scary like it's going to throw thunderbolts at our speaker or let hungry tigers lose on him, but scary in that it is mysterious and even rather seductive. Our speaker is almost enticed into staying and watching the woods fill up with snow, but if he stays too long, we've got to believe that he might freeze to death, catch a really bad cold, or forget his way home. Nature is a beautiful siren in this poem, compelling our speaker to hang out in spite of the dangerous consequences.

Whose woods these are I think I know. (1)

Though this line seems like it was broken in half and then glued back together in the wrong order, we like how the woods are the first thing we hear about when we begin reading the poem. It's almost as if our speaker wants to showcase the "woods" over his own self.

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow. (3-4)

The action at hand, the one that occupies our speaker throughout this poem, is that of watching snow fall on the woods. Quite a simple action. What does it say about the speaker that he take pleasure in watching snow fall on trees?

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year. (7-8)

We don't know about you, but to us the word "frozen" is not such a pleasant word. It makes us feel, well, cold, and it makes us think of things like frostbite and popsicles. This seems to be the first semi-violent word in the poem, the first word that reminds us of the dangers that lie behind such a beautiful scene.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake. (11-12)

What does a sweeping noise sound like? Well, when we say the word "sweep" aloud, we can kind of hear a little wind come out of our mouths. Try it. That ssss noise along with the wwww noise creates a little storm. It's quiet out here in the wilderness, and this quiet almost becomes another character, another presence.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. (13)

What do you make of these three words (lovely, dark, and deep) together? Do they mix well? From what you know of the woods so far, do they seem lovely, dark, and deep. What do these word choices say about our speaker?

4) Society and class

We don't get much information about where our speaker comes from or about the nearby village in this poem, but we do know that he's far away from civilization. We also know that the man who owns the woods lives in town in a house. From this little information, we can deduce that if you own things (like the owner of the woods does), then you live in the midst of society. Our speaker is not so concerned with society. In fact, society to him is about as appetizing as cod liver oil. He'd rather be alone with nature. To us, the village sounds quaint, cute, and warm. To our speaker, the village represents his obligations, responsibilities, and promises.

Whose woods these are I think I know. (1)

Can someone can own woods?

His house is in the village though; (2)

Besides messing up the iambic tetrameter (check out "Form and Meter"), what would be lost if Frost omitted the word "though" from this line? What does that "though" imply? The owner of the woods owns lots of things. Things like woods and a house. He must be living the life. He must also be kind of disconnected from the natural world if he doesn't even want to hang out with his trees.

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow. (3-4)

Mr. Speaker, you've already told us that the owner of the woods lives in the village. Why are you so paranoid? Also, why are you watching woods fill up with snow? To each his own – we endorse snow watching, if that's what you like. But, we're just curious about why you like this pastime so much.

The little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near (5-6)

How does the little horse know there isn't a farmhouse near, and, more importantly, why does the speaker choose to stop so far away from any other humans. The farmhouse represents something different than the village does – it's a bit more nature-loving than the village. But the one thing that both farmhouse and village have in common is people, and that's the one thing that our speaker doesn't seem to like too much.

But I have promises to keep, (14)

The word "promises" is an interesting one. Promises usually involve other people, and they usually involve the future (whether immediate or distant). In this way our speaker seems to be choosing people and his future over nature and the present.

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

                                       Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice is a very short but remarkable poem of Robert Frost in which the poet’s philosophically temperament is to be found. The present short poem deals with the universe, but while dealing with this things the poet comes before us as a profound philosopher.

The very opening line of the poem prefers a meeting point thought the Indian mythology and Christian mythology of the west. Some people are of the opinion that this world would be destroyed because of water. In the Indian mythology there is an account of how king Manu was saved by the flood with the help lord Vishnu, who was in the guise of a fish. It describes how the world was destroyed because of water. The Christian myth of the west mentions that the world would be destroyed because of fire.

    “ Some say the world would end in fire, some say in Ice”.

The poet Frost in the opening of the poem refers to these two myths and he believes that the world would be destroyed because of fire. The poet here uses the word “Fire” as a symbol to signifies the human desire. The poet wants to convey that human desires are just like flames of fire and there is no end to human desires. So that the world would be destroyed because of the fire of human desires is a major driving force which compels a person to go to any extend for the fulfillment of those desires. 

The poet then says that Ice is also equally capable of destroying the world. The poet associates ice with cold blooded hatred which modern man has for a fellow human being. The days of physical war are gone, now it is replaced with cold blooded hatred with people are destroyed mentally. So the poet says that ice is also capable of destroying the world.

Conclusion :-

The present poem has a philosophical note in it as comments on human nature. The first aspects of human nature is burning desires and the second aspect is cold hatred. Both are heaving the capacity to destroy this world. This truth of modern life is highlighted in the present poem.

Themes

1) Choices:

"Fire and Ice" is set up as a choice between fire and ice. Which force will bring about the end of the world?

Some say the world will end in fire, (line 1)

The speaker functions like a judge evaluating two arguments. At the beginning of the poem, we do not yet know whether he will weigh in on the debate.

Some say in ice. (line 2)

Oh, it's on. "Fire" and "ice" are pretty arbitrary phenomena, as far as ways to end the world. Why only these two? What about being sucked into a giant black hole? Giant Godzilla attack? (OK, so you can probably file that under "fire.") The point is that Frost doesn't care about being strictly accurate; he is setting up two contrasting symbols.

I hold with (line 4)

The speaker uses a very legalistic phrase to let us know that he's planning to take sides in the argument. He sounds like he's competing at a high school debate tournament.

Based on the wisdom gained from his experience, the speaker decides that desire and the other forces of "fire" would probably bring about the destruction of the world first. "Fire," after all, is the realm of the passions, which are spontaneous and impulsive. But the cool deliberation of "ice" would be no less effective at bringing about destruction. The speaker makes a choice but avoids choosing one over the other.

2) Love:

From what I've tasted of desire (line 3)

For someone who seems so worldly-wise, we're surprised when the speaker claims he has only "tasted" desire. We think of desire as something that you devour in one giant bite, or, rather, as something that devours you. He is being modest here. He claims that even his limited exposure to this huge force of love is enough to get a sense of its power. 

"Desire" is meant to be closely associated with love. Of course, love has many other sides: commitment, affection, and responsibility, to name a few. But desire is one of the most fundamental emotional response to being in love, and it's also the most potentially destructive. You can think of desire as a huge store of energy that can be channeled or directed in many different ways. "Fire and Ice" argues that, if channeled in the wrong way, desire could bring about the end of the world. There are other kinds of desire than erotic love – you can desire a cool sports car, for example – but romantic desire is probably the most powerful.

I hold with those who favor fire. (line 4)

The speaker shifts back to his "judge mode." He can analyze his own experiences with detachment.

3) Fear: 

"Fire and Ice" is notable for the lack of fear on the part of the speaker, who responds to the prospect of the end of the world with few traces of emotion or worry.

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice. (lines 1-2)

The poem abstracts itself from any specific vision of the end of the world.

But if it had to perish twice, (line 5)

Really? The world has to end twice so we can test out the fire vs. ice hypothesis? In all seriousness, the speaker is dripping with irony here. He takes a terrifying topic and treats it like a rational thought experiment.

I think I know enough of hate (line 6)

Maybe the speaker's lack of fear has to do with his experience in matters of desire and hate. He has seen enough destruction in the world – or at least destructive emotions – to not be afraid of it.

There is something uncomfortable and even frightening about a guy who can analyze the pivotal moment in human history like a lawyer or judge weighing two arguments. Nonetheless, from his personal knowledge of desire and hate, we know the speaker is not just naïve. Maybe he knows "fire and ice" so well that he has moved beyond fear to resignation.

4) Hate:

Many readers of "Fire and Ice" – including us – think Frost was inspired partly by the image of malicious sinners trapped in ice at the bottom of Dante's Hell in his epic poem the Inferno. 

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice (6-7)

This statement is tantalizing. What does the speaker know about hate? We think that these lines are an admission that almost all people have known hate at some point in their lives. He's an honest speaker. 

Contrary to the fire-and-brimstone view that the worst of the worst are tortured by flames for all eternity, Dante locks these folks up in a frozen lake. Some kinds of hate can be hot, like the hate of a jealous lover, but usually the most malicious forms of hate are seen as cold, like icy, premeditated revenge. 

Is also great

And would suffice. (lines 8-9)

By the end of the poem, we realize that the detachment that the speaker has displayed all along is an example of just the kind of cool reason that can be so destructive when coupled with hate. Scary. Unlike love, which shouts its name through the streets, hate works in the shadows.

Design by Robert Frost

                                      Design 

Robert Frost’s poem with the title design is a philosophical poem which states that there is a design of destiny or God in everything and every incident which happens in our life. To show this truth the poet picks up the subject matter of a spider , a moth and a white flower. The scene which is portrayed here is of a dark night when one moth becomes a morsel of a spider. 

It is night and in the darkness to seat on a white flower. The spider wants’ to catch that moth on the that white flower and so it changes it’s cooler to white. So that it may remain invisible to the eyes of that moth. 

       “ All that happiness it is designed by lord God” 

That spider remains successful in catching the moth. And very soon the wings of that moth are detached from it’s body. Falling down just like paper kite. The poet observe this scene and it clicks a realization in him that even in the smallest of small incident which happens in this world there is a design of destine. Destiny made the flower white and inspired that moth to go to that flower. The same destiny inspired spider to go to that flower and to began his morning rituals by making that moth it’s a food. The poet comes to conclusion that nothing happens in this world without design. The seal of destiny is a must for the occurrence of any incident. 

Themes 

1) Fate and free will: 

We're big on freedom, sure, but everything has its limits. For thousands of years, humans have taken comfort in the idea that, while we might make our own choices, someone or something is still in ultimate control of the universe. 

Like the ingredients of a witches' broth 

Frost makes us think that something out there is purposefully collecting objects and events and forcing the outcomes. We like the idea that not everything is just coincidence. It makes us feel like there's a good reason (even if we can't grasp it) In "Design," Frost sees the scary side of that idea. If a creator is in control, which means that this god must have a hand in everything, including all the terrible things that has happened with moth and everything else. 

If design govern in a thing so small (14) 

The last line of the poem gives a terrifying "either/or" situation. Either there is no design to the universe and we are just out here on our own or design governs everything—even the most horrific events we can imagine. 

2) Fear: 

"Design" isn't a ghost story. Nothing all that awful happens. A spider gets ready to eat a moth. It's the circle of life—get over it. 

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white (1) 

But the philosophical argument that Frost develops begins to play with some of our deepest fears. 

Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth (3) 

This is the first (but not last) image of death in the poem. We picture the moth like a starched white funeral cloth over a coffin. Frost moves from telling a story to asking questions, questions that become increasingly more urgent. It is as if he is slowly uncovering all the possible implications of the scene and he is terrified of what he discovers. 

What but design of darkness to appall (13) 

Frost's list of questions comes to its final and scary conclusion right here. Whatever brought these three things together in this strange scene, it had to be something that enjoys creating these fear-inducing nightmares—in other words: something a little twisted. 

3) The Supernatural power 

In "Design" there are a lot of supernatural elements which Frost has questioned. God and the cosmic forces control our lives. But we also have the other-worldly realm like witches, overweight spiders, and pale flowers in poem. The whole poem is about big things and small things and whether those big and small things are controlled by superstition, by God, or even by nothing at all. 

On a white heal-all, holding up a moth (2) 

Of all the flowers to pick, Frost chose a heal-all, a flower with a heavy supernatural vibe. It can be brewed into a drink and used to treat things like sore throats and fevers. Even more eerie, this heal-all is white—it's supposed to be blue. 

Like the ingredients of a witches' broth (6) 

The reference to Macbeth brings to mind the whole creepy list of things that get thrown into a cauldron, from "eye of newt" to "lizard's leg." In this poem, it hints at the possible control of supernatural forces. 

The first stanza refers only to small superstitions (the spider, the heal-all, the witches' broth), but Frost takes his supernatural discussions to a cosmic level by the end of the poem. Even though Frost makes plenty of references to the supernatural, at the end of the poem we still aren't sure whether he even believes that anything supernatural exists.