The poems "Design" and "The Oven-Bird" by Robert Frost are two perfect examples of a writer’s attitude during this modernist period. Compared to the other writers, such as Eliot, Frost used nature instead of the obvious description of a cluttered city. I thought all his words used fit the feelings people had during the time between WWI and 1935. In these poems I found all the themes connected to modernism, which are disillusionment, hopelessness, alienation, fragmentation, and the human imagination. Frost pointed out in these poems the limitations and isolation of the individual in a natural environment and how difficult it is for the self to understand existence.

In "Design,"  modernism shows through in Frost’s writing. There is a sense of alienation and fragmentation in the poem. Frost is looking in very closely at this little world, which consists of three things: a spider, a moth, and a flower. At the moment he is completely isolated from everything except for what is happening on the flower. He is questioning about if the world has an order and if not would there be chaos. There is also a sense of hopelessness because Frost asks, why do such things occur. He questions parts of life that can not be answered. We do not know what made the flower white, but we do know why it is scientifically. We also do not know how the flower attracted both the spider and the moth. Frost’s questions are hopeless because they are questions people ponder about their whole life. These questions do not have exact answers and people go in circles trying to figure them out.

"The Oven-Bird" also shows themes of modernism. The most evident theme is the power of the human imagination. Frost was very creative in expressing the life cycle through the song of the oven-bird. People can relate to this poem because it is simple and people can get different meanings out of it. The reader can picture the ending of summer with the bird who sings about the diminished thing. Another theme found in this poem is hopelessness because it is known that all things have to come to an end. Nothing stays the same because everything is constantly changing. Frost makes good comparisons by writing about the changing seasons. Like a season ends so do our lives and there is no turning back or slowing down the aging process. These two poems had very strong messages behind them. I thought it was a good idea to use nature as a way to express Frost’s feelings.  Themes of modernism show through the two poems and have a big impact on how it was written. Both poems express a feeling of destruction in the world, which was how people felt during this time period. I think Frost’s comparisons and even the structure of the poems set the mood for the reader.