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A Noiseless Patient Spider
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8.1
/10
(52
votes)
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A NOISELESS, patient spider,
I mark'd, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark'd how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them--ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,--seeking the spheres, to
connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form'd--till the ductile anchor
hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul. 10
Walt Whitman
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Read poems about / on: ocean
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Comments about this poem (A Noiseless Patient Spider
by
Walt Whitman
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DR. A.CELESTINE RAJ MANOHAR MD
(11/3/2009 5:35:00 PM) |
Like the Spider's tireless engineering feat for existence in a material world, the human soul needs to find a suitable anchorage with God for a meaningful divine existence through repeated attempts and perseverance until success smiles.
Dr John Celes
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JOE POEWHIT
(11/2/2009 10:15:00 AM) |
Interesting poem spiders and people. No radio or TV. Had to write about something.
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Michael Harmon
(11/2/2009 8:51:00 AM) |
Whitman makes his comparison between a spider and, specifically, the human soul. The use of the word 'soul' points directly to the religious/spiritual aspect of the human condition. His reference to 'seeking the spheres', as in 'music of the spheres'(aka: the design and process of the heavens) , seems to confirm this. My understanding here is, for Whitman, in this poem, the human soul searches for meaning(s) (religious/spiritual, or 'absolute' connections) , with the world or universe like the spider throws out threads of web to connect them to material surroundings.
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Albert Ahearn
(11/2/2009 7:46:00 AM) |
'The poem contains two five-line stanzas, the first consisting of one long sentence. The subject is the pronoun I (line 2) , and the main verb is the compound mark'd (line 2) and mark'd (line 3) . The second stanza is one long group of words requiring I marked to be carried over unstated from the first stanza in order to make the word group a complete sentence. If inserted, I marked would occur after And (line 6) or soul (line 6) . The poet achieves a measure of balance between the two stanzas with the words unreeling and speeding in the first stanza and musing, venturing, throwing, and seeking in the second stanza. He also balances isolated in the first stanza (line 1) with detached in the second stanza (line 2) and vacant vast surrounding in the first stanza (line 2) with measureless oceans of space in the second stanza (line 2) .'
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Kevin Straw
(11/2/2009 5:47:00 AM) |
The comparison is inaccurate. The spider weaves its web by instinct – its web is planned and constructed like a building from unchangeable instructions within it. Perhaps man is like that too, but not the man that Whitman draws in his second verse.
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Albert Ahearn
(11/2/2009 3:30:00 AM) |
'A Noiseless Patient Spider' is a lyric poem. It develops the following themes:
The quest, or exploration, for meaning and knowledge in the vastness of the universe.
The courage to venture forth alone into unknown territory.
The patience to build a network that links one stopping place to the next.
The perseverance to carry on until the “gossamer thread” (line 8) connects to a goal
The poem compares a spider to a human. Each creature tirelessly constructs bonds to its surroundings. A spider spins silken thread to span a void. A human builds ships, airplanes, bridges. Sometimes he crosses a void with a telescope (Galileo) or reaches new plateaus of knowledge with a question (Socrates) or a theory (Einstein) .'
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Ramesh T A
(11/2/2009 1:38:00 AM) |
The spider's web bridge is well compared to love's bridge of thoughts and feelings connecting the soul!
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Logan Lamech
(11/2/2008 10:04:00 AM) |
The comparison and the portrait are both timeless.
Logan Lamech
www.eloquentbooks.com/LingeringPoets.html
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Michael Graham
(5/5/2007 8:56:00 AM) |
in Whitman's day the mind worked silently. Today we seek our soul knowledge amid the noises of the machine and advertising age. Good luck! Try to stand at the open barn door with Walt, gazing upon cows and horses. Then your soul will come whispering.
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