Dimpled Spider Sonnet

This poem dramatizes the conflict between fate and utter randomness in the universe, particularly as this conflicts relates to even the smallest acts of nature. The speaker throws into question if design truly would “govern in a thing so small” as to suggest that fate, or design, reaches to even the furthest corners of the universe. The first stanza of this Italian sonnet gives their perspective on a “dimpled spider” grasping onto a moth atop a white heal-all. This seems like any old event one may stumble upon if out and about but the speaker takes it further in their analysis in the second stanza when they question what brought the spider to such great heights, or why would the moth to “thither in the night.” The idea that there may be some underlying plan controlling everything is elaborated on in more depth in the sixth, seventh, and eighth lines in the first stanza. The speaker describes the spider, moth, and flower in terms as these ingredients that make up a “witches’ broth”: “A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth”, and the moth carried like a “paper kite”. When this is read, the reader can’t help but imagine a scene of a witch throwing the ingredients into a cauldron all the while laughing maniacally. The speaker shows the audience that this …show more content…
What was it that truly drove the “kindred spider” all the way up the flower, or made the white moth fly by the spider. The moth could have gone anywhere else, and the spider too, but they were in the perfect position at the perfect time in order for this event to occur. And not just any event, but one of “darkness” that would “appall” most. The speaker also poses the idea that sometimes these acts of “darkness” occur to or around other “innocent” ones. The white moth like a “rigid satin cloth” and the “innocent heal-all” are both seen as these pure and good objects that are brought to “darkness” by

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