The Spider and Soul in Walt Whitman's A Noiseless Patient Spider

The image of a spider launching forth filament after filament to connect itself in some way with the vastness of its surroundings captures the nature of the human as well, who seeks to link himself, in the mind of the transcendentalist, with the Oversoul and to find the bridge that leads to a definition of life. The critic Wilton Eckley saw this relationship in his essay:

Second in the second paragraph there is use of personification. The writer use personification though out the entire poem. He says that the poem can find when it can’t. The writer also says that poem live in the bottom of shoes

In stanza four the poet is flashing back to his childhood and telling us some other words that he got in trouble for. “Other words that got me into trouble were fight and fright, wren and yarn.” (29-31) Even though he got in trouble by his teacher for not knowing the words, his mother helped him understand them in a different way. “Wren are small, plain birds.” (34) “My mother made birds out of yarn.” (37) Here he is shown how two different things can become the same thing.

Cofer also speaks about her heart beat being like dozens of spiders carrying the poison. The feel of this poem makes her seem very vulnerable and haunted but this shadow that will not go away. “It is her wild dreams that run rampant through my head exhausting me. Her heartbeats, like dozens of spiders carrying the poison of her restlessness, drag their countless legs over my bare flesh.” In this quote from the poem she really appeals to the audience’s pathos as she gains their attention and imagination. As I read it was like I could envision the spiders drag their legs on her skin as she is terrified by the poison they carry with them. All throughout this poem Cofer gains the readers trust as she lets them in on this personal experience she is enduring which applies to the reader’s ethos. In this poem Cofer continues to use the word “her” to reintegrate that this shadow is a female and even more then that someone. Cofer continues to mention all of the things that this shadow is making her feel and how she is an inconvenience in Cofer’s life. She describes every way in which she is taunted by this woman day in and day

Walt Whitman’s A Noiseless Patient Spider was written with the comparison of a striving human soul to a spider. The way that he trying to make the comparison is by simply trying to connect the spider to the human soul as the human soul is connected to the world. Whitman uses figurative language throughout his piece, such as personification. The first stanza is focused on the spider making a web, whereas the second stanza is focused on the attempt to connect the spider to the human soul and the rest of the world.

In the poem there is also an idea of man verses nature, this relates to the survival of the fittest. John Foulcher shows this through the use of first person point of view. For example in the second stanza “Then above me the sound drops” this again possesses sensory imagery creating a deeper human aura throughout the poem. Foulcher further uses a human aura to build a sense of natural imagery for example in the last stanza : “I pick up these twigs and leave them” adding closure

In line 6 the writer gives us an image in the phrase the snake slides away. Here the writer describes the wonderful movement of a snake that can make you carious to know how it is created. Furthermore in the same line the speaker give us a simile when she describes the jumping of a fish like a little lily which is “type of plant that grows from a bulb and that has large white or coloured flowers”.( Oxford dictionary 2006)The writer also gives us another great image of nature :The gold finches sing from the unreachable top of the tree . Here unreachable top of the tree is connected to the first line of the poem where there are things you can’t reach even if you want to like the gold finches who sing from a far place. In line 7 the writer invites us to look at nature by saying I look and then saying morning to night where she means she looks at nature all day long without feeling bored or done with looking.

Also included in the poem is the image of a young child being embraced by their elders. This shows the gap in life and the aging process that we go through. When we are young we are carefree, but as we age we hold on to the ones we love because of the knowledge that we will one day have to make our departure. Out of this idea of death, Whitman shows that this is a natural part of life and

In the poem A Noiseless Patient Spider, it begins by giving us a description of a common, little spider going throughout its life. A spider, on a rock, where it sat isolated, quietly as it casts out its web from in it's spinnerets into an emptiness by trying to examine the significant unknown that holds it. The speaker gives us some deep thoughts as we read through it, while making a connection between the actual life of the spider and with our own lives. As well as the speaker comparing it to his own lost life, he portrays to us that perhaps if he were to be more patient with his life that maybe he could enjoy how the spider goes about it's life and he wouldn't be so lost.

The first stanza explains how the cunning spider “stood isolated” and to “explore the vacant, vast surroundings” it “launched” thread after thread “out of itself” thus creating a sturdy web. This then flows smoothly into the description of his soul, which acts in a very similar manner. At first, it too seems isolated. Whitman writes “O my Soul, where you stand” and “surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,” which connects to the how the spider “stood isolated.” This wording, however, might take on a new meaning to describe how his soul has an endless number of opportunities, even though it also seems as lonely as the spider. In the third line, “Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,” Whitman illustrates how his soul also launches its own webbing, determined to connect itself with its surroundings. These may be relationships with others or finding a place to call home - anything that will create “the bridge [it] will need” or connections that will “anchor” it to its environment. Whitman helps readers understand the actions and nature of an intangible soul by relating it to a small and tangible

The tone of the two poems are rather stark in their differences. Whitman’s poem, is more optimistic, and this can be seen here, “Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them” (8-9). This excerpt is about the spider and the soul; it is describing the nature of both. The words themselves have lighter, happier connotations to them, as musing is used to describe the act of thinking, and that is a positive thing. The excerpt goes on to describe the soul and spider (which are one in the same in the poem) as something seeking adventure, or at least willing to go searching for something, another attribute that is positive. In general, the poem is observing the spider and what it is doing, with some commentary on the nature of the soul. This is somewhat

1. During Anne Bradstreet's piece called [Upon the Burning of Our House] Anne Bradstreet describes how she believed that it was god's will that her house was destroyed, due to her being too concerned with material/physical things. She says "Then straight I gin my heart to chide and didst thy wealth on earth abide?" which translates to her questioning whether or not she had treasured her belongings excessively. Afterwards she states "Didst fix thy hope on mouldring dust? The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?" which further expands on the fact she treasured a physical object rather than a living entity or god himself.

The way the snake makes his appear and then disappears is the way that some people may live their lives. They may be use to people coming around for a certain amount of time and then disappearing. In the third stanza they begin to describe that the snakes actions have become very unaware, like they are not sure what to expect anymore. The writer of this poem explains that the most important skill you could use is the understanding of the poems tone. The tone of this poem is simply normal and does not have any dramatic or sad tone. As the writer begins introducing the snake he use a metaphor as an idea of explaining the snake as a genteel fellow. The change in the tone as you continue reading the poem is meant to guide the reader into the situation that anything is capable of happening, it is very easy to be distracted just how the speaker was nervous with the snake. The writer of this poem then made you question the appearance of the snake and if he was seen. The metaphors and images that the writer creates is meant to be used to describe the snakes reactions to the speakers chance of dealing with his chances with the snake. In the sixth stanza the writer finally

Walt Whitman’s “A Noiseless Patient Spider” varies greatly from Robert Frost’s “Design”. Whitman stresses the importance of the title by repeating it in the first line of the poem. The title suggests the work and patience required of a spider to create their web, making each line connect to the next. The spider’s web is like one’s home, one’s foundation, and one’s intricate connection to life. In the first line of the poem Walt Whitman uses a form of figurative language to describe the spider. The form of figurative language Whitman uses is personification. He gives the spider the human characteristic of being patient to suggest that this story is not only about a spider. The second to third line reads, “I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding…” The words isolated, vacant and vast describe the space around the spider. The author wants

“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”