Questions and Answers for Design
Design
What is the theme, style, and tone of the poem "Design" by Robert Frost?
Perhaps echoing the words of Hamlet, "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so, Frost's superbly constructed sonnet, "Design," underscores the observation that perception often...
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What is Frost's general question about the design of the world?
In "Design," Robert Frost's general question seems a rather skeptical one: Just how involved is the Creator with his creations? In other words, is there truly a "design" to all that is in the...
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Explain how symbolism in "Design" by Robert Frost aids the reader in understanding the overall theme of the poem?
Central to this poem is the way that the spider, the flower and the moth are symbols of death, destruction and decay. Notice how Frost describes them as "Assorted characters of death and blight"...
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What is the role of spirituality in "Design" by Robert Frost?
"Design" is a sonnet by Robert Frost that like many of Frost's works reflects on simple, natural phenomena in a way that illuminates profound philosophical and human issues. The surface level of...
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As seen in "Design," what is Frost's attitude about natural designs?
Robert Frost's "Design" illuminates the speaker's reflection on a spider's web. As a side note, given it is proper to denote the narrator of the poem as being the one to attribute feelings to, one...
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What philosophical views are expressed in the sonnet "Design"? How can you tell?
The broadest philosophical view in this sonnet is that in order there is meaning. This is communicated through the poem's final couplet, which underscore the meaning of design in large and small...
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How does Robert Frost's poem "Design" confound our usual preconceptions about light and darkness?
Normally, the colour white is associated with life and innocence. In much of Christian iconography, white is the colour of purity, used for christening gowns, altar linens, Easter, etc. Darkness...
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What is the tone of the first and second part of this poem?
First, one must understand what tone is. According to Brooklyn Academics' Literary Term page, tone is defined by the following: the writer's attitude toward the material and/or readers. By...
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Does ''Design'' by Robert Frost have a modern theme that relates to Modernism?
Modernist writers often presented the world in which we live as a pretty terrible place. They comprehensively abandoned the valorization of nature so beloved of the Romantics to embrace a much more...
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Is the poem "Design," by Robert Frost, written in blank verse?
Robert Frost’s brief poem titled “Design” does not use blank verse, if only because the poem rhymes. The usual definition of “blank verse” involves unrhymed lines of ten syllables, with most even...
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What parallels do you see between the natural scene presented in Robert Frost's poem "Design" and its crafting as an...
Various parallels exist between the “real” situation Robert Frost depicts in his poem “Design” and the ways the speaker presents that situation in the poem. The speaker claims to have seen a...
Design
How do you think a Puritan writer would answer the questions Frost asks in this poem, "Design"?
In this poem by Robert Frost, he brings out questions that seem to resonate through literature of every time period. He is contemplating life and death, good and evil, and their origins. Upon...
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Connect "Design" with another Frost poem about nature. How are they similar and different?
You can compare this poem to "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," which is set in nature: a dark, snowy night in the woods near a farmhouse. Both poems use sensory imagery, which...