The definition of ambiguity, according to The American Heritage College Dictionary, is 1. Doubtfulness or uncertainty as regards interpretation: moral ambiguity. 2. Something of doubtful meaning: a poem full of ambiguities. Robert Frost's "Design" manages to fit both of these definitions, as he uses ambiguous diction to reach an ambiguous conclusion. His use of the word "white" and other seemingly innocent imagery turns a somewhat common scene in nature-a spider catching its prey- into an argument about if there is a god or not. .
Even in the first line of the poem, the unusual diction catches the reader's attention. The word "dimpled" typically has pleasant associations, as it brings up images of smiles, or perhaps babies' butts (1). Combined with "fat," those nice babies' bottoms are now rather repulsive images of cellulite and gluttony (1). The fact that they are describing a spider continues to change these words with positive associations to negative associations, because while spiders are not seen as the scariest thing on the face of the Earth, arachnophobia is still fairly common. The last word in line one, "white" usually has connotations of virginity, purity, and innocence, but as it describes this strange spider, it evokes going pale with fear, or being ghostly. The color "white" is used again in line two, to describe a heal-all. Heal-alls are normally blue- Frost is using the same imagery from the spider to turn a normally pretty flower with a rather positive name into something irking and haunting. Also in line two, the spider is "holding up a moth," which also holds multiple interpretations: in support, in an act of robbery, or on display. In line three, the moth is compared to "a white piece of rigid satin cloth," bringing up peace, rigor mortis, and the lining of a casket. It could be that the moth died peacefully, as if it just flew into the spider's legs and died on impact, but it also could imply that the moth is similar to a prisoner of war.
