design

-dimpled spider

-heal-all flower

-moth

-rigid satin cloth

-paper kite

A reoccurring theme that the images had was the color white. White was how Frost described all of the central subjects in the poem; the “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”. In our culture, white represents pure and innocence and Frost portrayed them that way to contradict what was happening.

In the first four lines, the spider was said to be dimpled, the flower was a one of a kind heal-all, and the moth was like a paper kite. These descriptions gave off the impression that everything was virtuous and that each item was special. Frost purposefully chose the heal-all flower because the name was symbolic to the theme of white and being healthy. But in lines 5-8, the purity was suddenly cut off and words such as “witches’ broth and dead wings” were used. This drastic transition illustrated the gruesome death of the moth. Even though there is a negative tone, Frost mixes in “snow-drop spider and a flower like a froth” to imply that the spider and the flower were still innocent.

In lines 9-12, Frost began to question this strange incident. Why was this flower white, “what brought the kindred spider to that height/then steered the white moth thither in the night?” The white heal-all flower added to the uniqueness of this event because it is not normally white. A white spider and a white moth is not that commonly found either. All three of these different aspects put together created an out of the ordinary moment in nature.

In this poem, Frost is letting the reader think about whether these events are all a string of coincidences, or if it was planned by a higher power. He wondered how this rare coincidence of a white moth and white spider on a white flower occurred. There is a possibility that everything in our life has already been determined by a God. Frost used this rare moment in time as the example to show that God has planned out everything, no matter how small and insignificant. No matter what we do, everything will always have the same outcome. But there is also the possibility that all this was just fate and each creature was just exercising its free will.

my title

The title of my blog is imagination is more important than knowledge, because this is a motto that I try to live by. Growing up in school where everyone was so competitive for good grades made learning not so fun. I was always the average one, sometimes even below average. My parents never yelled at me for getting a couple of C’s on my transcript, but I knew that they were not happy and were worried that I would not get into a good college. No matter how hard I studied, I never seemed to do that great on tests. So I decided to focus more on my creative side, by joining my high school’s dance team and choir. Participating in so many extracurricular activities made me focus less on the stress from school and eventually, I became more relaxed and accepting of the way I am.

I feel that I can really apply this motto to this class because we will be doing a lot of reading and analyzing. Analyzing the texts is more of the imaginative and creative side, rather than knowledge. I hated reading for most of my childhood, but as I grew older, I realized that reading is not all that bad if I had the right book. Like most people, it is easier for me to enjoy fiction novels compared to textbooks.