Frost on Death

Frost on Death

Robert Frost, born in the late 1800’s, wrote many poems over his long life. Most are considered to be very profound works that show the true talent of their author. If Frost isn’t speaking on about the less tread path, he is remarking on life’s oddities. In the poem Design Frost comments on several anomalies in nature that lead to death of an insignificant insect. Frost also remarks on what could be interpreted as depression and loneliness in Acquainted with the Night. Both works seem to deal with some of the more looked over aspects of life. Although each poem has its own meaning, they share the common curiosity of separation from what considered normal.

Frost seems to be bewildered at the fact that all the actions he describes lead to the moth’s demise in Design. From the “…dimpled spider, fat and white,” to it being “On a white heal-all, …” The small white spider on a perennial weed, with flowers that are suppose to range from light blue to being purple in color, make the author pine on the thought that maybe there is a design to life, or maybe there isn’t. He sees the action as life in motion “Mixed ready to begin the morning right,” and gives careful detail of each of the three parts in play.

The exploration into a more depressing side of a city or town can be explored in Frost’s work Acquainted with the Night. He seems to separate himself from what is around him “I have out walked the furthest city light.” and goes into his sad state of mind. He writes how there is sound in this place in line eight, but he also continues that “But not to call me back or say good-by;” meaning that no one really seems to notice that he is gone.

From The Poetry of Robert Frost: Constellations of Intention that Reuben A. Brower wrote in 1963, where he explains his understanding on Frost’s poem. Brower compares the work to a joke and a serious question; he shows Frost’s use of light words like “snow-drop” and “white heal-all” that are used in a dark manor to describe a death dealer and the death site. He brings the reader’s attention the ingredient list of the witches’ broth, also pointing out that it could be the spider’s venom, from Frost’s usage of “I-sounds” that give the poem a kind of rhythmic beat to read. Brower finds great detail in his dark interpretation of the work