"A Noiseless Patient Spider"

by Walt Whitman

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, detached, 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.

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 An Analysis on Walt Whitman's "A Noiseless Patient Spider
by Shaina D. Canaria

● Physical Attributes:

a. It has 10 lines.
b. It is a two-stanza poem.
c. It has two quintains. (A five-lined stanza is called "quintain" or "quintet".)

● Genre:

a. It is a narrative free verse (a poem that tells a story and does not follow a strict
rhyme scheme, rhythm and meter).

● General Physical Analysis

a. It uses excessive commas.

Rationale 1: Whitman uses verse paragraphs instead of stanzas.
Note: If you look closely, it seems like each stanza is originally written as a
paragraph, and it looks like they were just divided into lines.
Rationale 2: The commas indicate pause or break, and they also create emphasis
for each word within a certain line.

b. It uses contractions. (mark'd, launch'd & form'd)

Rationale 1: They were used to facilitate a smoother pronunciation.
Rationale 2: Whitman exercises his "poetic license" (the freedom to depart from
the conventional rules of language when speaking or writing in order to create an
effect).
Note 1: He deviated from the conventional spelling.

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 Note 2: The poem itself shows his poetic license.

● Line-by-line Analysis

1. A noiseless "patient" spider,

a. The line is also the title of the poem.
Rationale: to create emphasis.
b. It uses "personification".
Rationale: The word, "patient", is a human attribute.

● "The line presents the characteristics of the spider."

2. "I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,"

a. The poem is written from the first person point of view.
○ "I" pertains to the speaker. He/she may be anyone (i.e. traveler etc.).
Note: Just because the poet used "I" in the poem, doesn't necessarily
mean that he is the speaker in the poem.
b. The second line uses "imagery" which is also an element of poetry. It
seeks to create any sensory effect like auditory, olfactory, gustatory,
tactile etc.
Rationale: The line created a visual sensory effect.

● "The line introduces the speaker."

3. Mark’d how to explore the" vacant vast" surrounding,

a. The line uses "hyperbole".
Rationale: The amount of space surrounding the spider was exaggerated.

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4. It launch’d /f/orth "/f/ilament, /f/ilament, /f/ilament," out of itself,
a. The line uses "repetition", a figure of speech that aims to lay emphasis.
Rationale: The word, "filament", is repeated three times.
b. The line also uses /alliteration/ or the repetition of initial consonant
sound.

● Lines 3-4: "The speaker takes note that the spider is starting to
weave its web."

5. Ev/e/r unreeling th/e/m, ev/e/r tirel/e/ssly speeding th/e/m.

a. The line uses /assonance/, the repetition of vowels without repetition of
consonants used as an alternative to rhyme in verse.

● "The speaker takes note how the spider doesn't stop releasing its
own filament or thread as it weaves them tirelessly, noiselessly
and patiently."

6. "And you O my soul where you (stand),"

a. There is a sudden shift of subject.
Note: From the spider, the speaker shifted his/her focus to his/her soul.
b. The line is an "apostrophe". This happens when a speaker or writer
directly addresses someone or something who or that is not present or
cannot respond in reality.
Note: The speaker calls out his/her soul.
c. The line uses (personification).
Rationale: The word, "stand", is a human capability.

● "The speaker calls out his soul."

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7. (Surrounded, detached,) in "measureless oceans of space,"
a. The line uses "hyperbole".
Rationale: The amount of space surrounding the speaker's soul was
exaggerated.
b. It also uses (oxymoron).
Note: The words, "surrounded" and "detached", appear contradictory, yet
they both represent the soul.

● "Just like the spider, the speaker's soul is isolated and lost in a
vast surrounding too."

8. Ceaselessly mus/i/ng, ventur/i/ng, throw/i/ng, seek/i/ng the "spheres" to

connect them,
a. The line uses /assonance/.
b. It has "symbolism" which is the word, "spheres".
Note: In literature, a sphere represents celestial bodies (e.g. sun, earth
etc.).
Rationale: The speaker's soul is seeking to connect his/her spiritual world
or its individual self to the outside or the real world or the larger world.

● "Just like how the spider tirelessly and endlessly weaves its web,
the speaker's soul does its own things like that too."

9. T/i/ll the "br/i/dge/" you w/i/ll need be form’d, t/i/ll the ductile "anchor" hold,
a. The line uses /assonance/.
b. The words, "bridge" and "anchor", are symbols.
○ Bridge represents connection.

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 The speaker's soul seeks to connect with the outside or larger world
and/or with its people.
○ Anchor symbolizes hope.
The speaker is hopeful in seeking connection.

● "Until the bridge is formed and the anchor holds, the speaker's
soul will continuously do its job in seeking connection just like
how the spider will connect or weave its thread until it finishes
its web."
c. Grammar Inconsistency: "anchor" - "hold"

10. Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
a. Grammar Inconsistency: "gossamer thread" - "catch"

● "This line also tells that after the soul flinged its gossamer thread
and caught somewhere, the soul will stop doing its things."

● Stanza-by-stanza Analysis
a. Stanza 1: The speaker describes what he saw: a spider standing isolated on a
little promontory, and he watched it as it weaved its web noiselessly, patiently
and tirelessly.
b. Stanza 2: The speaker compares his/her soul to the spider.

● Summary
The spider is the metaphor of the soul. The spider seeks to connect its filament or
thread to make a web which symbolizes connection. Just like how the spider makes
connections out of itself, the soul too, creates a thread which is its individuality and
makes connections out of it. Just like how the spider will weave its filament until its very
last breath, the soul will do the same thing too.

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This happens because of purpose. Spiders weave their filaments to serve their purposes.
One of these is to balance the ecosystem or nature by eating insects. In view of this, they
make connections to do this. In simple terms, they create webs to trap their prey.
Moreover, they create webs to achieve their primary purpose, to live and to survive.

On the one hand, the soul also aims to connect too. Just like the spider, it needs to
survive. It seeks connection to achieve such feelings of safety, security, calmness and
peace. Just like the spider, it will die because the failure to connect will cause a person to
lose the drive to live and to serve his/her purposes in life.

The cohesion and connection of words, lines and stanzas in the poem are not entirely for
aesthetic purposes. Just like the spider and the soul in the poem, the poem tries and
seeks to connect with its readers too. Looking at the poet's biography, it can be
concluded that he is trying to connect with his readers too. During his life, he had been
through several relocations which contributed to feelings such as loneliness, isolation
and struggle to connect. Thus, he seeks and tries to connect with his readers by weaving
words, lines and stanzas.