Frost: Design (II)

At first glance Robert Frost’s poem “Design” appears to argue for the existence of design based on perceived evidence of order and direction in nature. After finding a spider eating a moth on a heal-all, the speaker questions what brought them together: “what brought the kindred spider to that height, then steered the white moth thither in the night?”(11-12). What could it be, he wonders, “what but design of darkness to appall? –If design govern in a thing so small”(13). While it is arguable that the poem represents the existence of design, a closer look at the poem reveals that it might actually argue for its nonexistence. It is important to notice that the poem states on repeated occasions that it is a distinct kind of design, that of darkness and death, what is found in nature. This poses a paradox given that, under a teleological interpretation, the argument from design is an argument for the existence of God. Is it possible that the design of God may be a design of darkness? Through the word “if” in “what but design of darkness to appall? –If design govern in a thing so small”(13) the speaker states his reluctance to grant such possibility. He introduces the conditional “if there is design, it is a design of darkness” in order to open up the possibility of a non-evil designer and therefore of no designer at all: if there is no design, there is no design of darkness, and consequently no designer at all.