Spiders Gotta Eat Too

Design by Robert Frost

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small. 

It's interesting to look at the details of death. Death comes in many different forms: it can come quickly, slowly, fortuitously, painfully, or even beautifully.  In the poem, Robert Frost shows us that the grace and the complexities of death can even be present in small things. By using metaphorical images and the repetition of words like "white," the poem appears to have an innocence and elegance; nevertheless when we look deeper into the meaning of these words and images, the theme is about accepting death as an element of the natural world. 

Generally our perception of death is seen as a tragic ending, which is dark and unfortunate, but in this poem the images of the spider, moth, and flower give us a different perspective. Like the design of the web that represents death to a moth, there is a design that governs our fate. Sometimes things as simple as a spider web, remind us that we are also part of the beautiful cycle of life and death. Design comes for us all.