Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 198 views

    A Noiseless

    Uploaded by

    Erl Dy
    In this poem, Walt Whitman compares the actions of a solitary spider to his own soul. The speaker observes a spider standing alone on a promontory, launching threads out from itself to explore its surroundings and begin constructing a web. In the next stanza, the speaker likens his soul to the spider, feeling surrounded and detached in a vast, empty space, yet continually venturing out to seek connections, as the spider does in spinning its web. Whitman uses the spider as a metaphor for perseverance in the face of isolation and a symbol of the soul's search for meaning and connection.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    A Noiseless

    Uploaded by

    Erl Dy
    198 views4 pages
    In this poem, Walt Whitman compares the actions of a solitary spider to his own soul. The speaker observes a spider standing alone on a promontory, launching threads out from itself to explore its surroundings and begin constructing a web. In the next stanza, the speaker likens his soul to the spider, feeling surrounded and detached in a vast, empty space, yet continually venturing out to seek connections, as the spider does in spinning its web. Whitman uses the spider as a metaphor for perseverance in the face of isolation and a symbol of the soul's search for meaning and connection.

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    In this poem, Walt Whitman compares the actions of a solitary spider to his own soul. The speaker observes a spider standing alone on a promontory, launching threads out from itself to explore its surroundings and begin constructing a web. In the next stanza, the speaker likens his soul to the spider, feeling surrounded and detached in a vast, empty space, yet continually venturing out to seek connections, as the spider does in spinning its web. Whitman uses the spider as a metaphor for perseverance in the face of isolation and a symbol of the soul's search for meaning and connection.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    198 views4 pages

    A Noiseless

    Uploaded by

    Erl Dy
    In this poem, Walt Whitman compares the actions of a solitary spider to his own soul. The speaker observes a spider standing alone on a promontory, launching threads out from itself to explore its surroundings and begin constructing a web. In the next stanza, the speaker likens his soul to the spider, feeling surrounded and detached in a vast, empty space, yet continually venturing out to seek connections, as the spider does in spinning its web. Whitman uses the spider as a metaphor for perseverance in the face of isolation and a symbol of the soul's search for meaning and connection.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    A NOISELESS, PATIENT SPIDER

    by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

    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.

    A Noiseless Patient Spider


    In this poem, the writer is comparing the life of a noiseless patient spider to his own life and his lost, detached soul. The writer may be implying that if he were more patient with his own life, he would not be so lost and would be able to enjoy things the way he sees this spider enjoying what he does: launching filament and making webs to In the first stanza, the writer describes how this spider can a ... The second stanza is left to describe how the writers soul is detached in measureless oceans of space, and meant to describe how Walt Whitman feels about his hopeless future. The spider never gives up and never loses hope because he knows what he wants to do and what he has to do to survive and go on living. nd does spin these webs as a pathway to experience the world, and how he is ever tirelessly speeding them. Also the word measureless being used here, I think that unmeasurable seems to be the more proper way to state that. I find it very interesting that this writer is comparing the life of a spider to his own experiences of trying to find his soul that he sees as being surrounded by this measureless ocean of space. And maybe the writer used measureless instead was to draw attention from the reader to this statement, meaning the writer saw it

    as an important line in the poem. He is ever dedicated to what he knows is what he is obligated to do. He needs to fling gossamer thread to do this, just like the spider does.

    .: A Noiseless Patient Spide :. I think you're both right (on top), but it also goes deeper than that. A 'promonontory' is a high portion of land extending out into a body of water; a 'filament' a slender fiber or thread; and a 'ductile' a pliant- easily bent ~ just to give a starting point. Walt Whitman has a way of connecting pieces to nature and making it appear you have the theme of the poem on the surface. I think the spider is actually in connection to the society, or even greater yet the world. He's spinning in space, 'seeking the spheres,' and he's constantly concocting ways to behold what he's after to mold over that one gap and create a passage, though quite fragile, until he can finally find another place to begin and end again, creating a giant web, hence the cycle, and spider, and comparison. But he refers to the spider as his soul at times because it so awkwardly reminds him of himself and in reality I think he is talking and describing himself and really not paying mind to the spider whatsoever, beginning with 'a noiseless patient spider' and ending the poem with 'O my Soul.' Those are just my ideas- we're talking about this tomorrow in Accelerated Lit. Maybe I will update with his ideas versus my originals~ see how different they were (I LOVE POETRY!)

    Whitmans brief ten-line poem exemplifies an idea he had jotted down in his notebook: "small in theme yet has it the sweep of the universe." from Walt Whitman's Notebook page 19 LOC #94 In the first verse paragraph, the speaker of the poem creates a little drama as he recounts his experience of watching a spider trying to find a place to spin its web. We see the spider positioned alone on some object which the speaker chooses not to identify but merely calls a little promontory. He tells us that the spider was exploring the vast space around him by throwing out the thread-like material that spiders use to spin webs: It launchd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself. He sees the spider do this many times throwing, throwing each thread out of itself, and it continues this activity for a long while. In the second verse paragraph, the speaker directly addresses his own soul and compares it to the spider. Like the spider his soul is surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space and like the spider sending out his filaments, the speakers soul searches for a place to connect itself. The spider is simply trying to find places to anchor its filaments so it can spin a web, but the speakers soul is searching for a lasting connection whether a friendship with another human being or more profoundly a connection with its Creator. Thus the poem can be considered small in theme in the first verse paragraph, yet contain a sweep of the universe in the second verse paragraph. http://poetry.suite101.com/blog.cfm/a_noiseless_patient_spider

    Characterizing The Speaker


    Many of the observations found in the poem lead us to a more complete understanding of the speaker of the poem. For example, it seems that the speaker is lonely or feels as if he has been rejected, I marked where on a little promontory it stood isolated. This insight is further backed up in lines six and seven, and you, o my soul where you stand,/surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space. It could be inferred that the speaker is desperate to find a niche in the universe, a place where he fits in, a place where he could be accepted. Just as the spider is attempting to build a literal web the speaker is attempting to build a figurative one of friends or family or anything that could be dear to him, that could give his life meaning.

    [edit] Word Choice


    The words that Whitman chooses to use in his poem can be significant because of their secondary meanings. For example, line four of the poem, it launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, could have simply stated that the spider was making a web, but the words Whitman chooses to use carry extra meaning. The idea of the spider launching filament supports the idea that there is a correlation between the spider and the speaker and symbolizes the speakers attempts to make connections in the universe. The words out of itself also support this idea, their connotation leads the reader to think of the filaments as attempts by the speakers soul to find meaning, and since they are coming from deep inside the reader, they are coming out of itself.

    [edit] Imagery
    The poem's most prevalent literary technique is undoubtedly imagery; it is difficult to find just one line that does not have a vivid image in it that aids the reader in seeing exactly what Walt Whitman intends them to see. The first, and one of the most important, examples occurs on the first line; A noiseless patient spider. This visual image brings pictures of small, perfectly still, spiders sitting on their perfect webs for days and days at a time, completely unmoving, no sign of life at all. It is amazing all the thoughts those four words can bring to mind. The image of the motionless spider, completely alone and isolated, as painted in the first three lines of the poem introduces the idea that the speaker feels alone in the world right off the bat. The image of the vacant vast surrounding also hints at the speakers possible doubt in the meaning of life. If the spider is the speakers soul then the surroundings should be the rest of the universe, and if the rest of the universe is empty and there are no other souls or things for the filaments to connect to, then what is the purpose of tirelessly speeding them on? The parallel image found on line eight and nine, surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,/ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, is a definite reference between the spider's plight and the speaker's. Both the speaker and the spider seem incapable of finding anything else in the universe, or at least anything of any meaning. However they both keep trying, either out of optimistic hope or blindness. It could be that the speaker is incapable of coming to terms with the idea that there could be nothing else in the universe besides himself, the vacant vast surrounding and is so optimistic or too incapable of that horrible realization to stop launching forth filament, filament,

    filament, out of itself. The last two lines of the poem can either be interpreted as supporting the idea that the speaker is habitually optimistic or as disproving the idea that the speaker is alone in the universe; till the bridge you will need be formed, till the ductile anchor hold,/ till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, o my soul. What ever interpretation the reader chooses to glean from them, the images in A Noiseless Patient Spider hold the key to its meaning.

    [edit] Figures of Speech


    The use of figures of speech in the poem is very extremely different than what is found in most poems. There seems to be only two figures of speech in A Noiseless Patient Spider, metaphor and symbolism; however, they are very prolonged examples that encompass the whole poem and are essential to its complete understanding. The entire work is essentially one large metaphor between the spider, isolated on its barren promontory, and the speakers soul, isolated in the universe. When the speaker describes the spider's plight, he is actually describing his own, this gives the reader a more profound sense of what the author is talking about than if Walt Whitman had just come out and tried to express his ideas in prose. The bulk of the content of A Noiseless Patient Spider has some relation to symbolism, whether it is the symbol itself or an image clarifying the meaning of the symbol or the thing or idea that is being symbolized. The promontorys vacant vast surroundings symbolize the speakers feeling of loneliness and isolation from the rest of the world or his inability to connect with others. The filament that the spider launched forth could be a symbol of the speakers attempts to find meaning in the universe, or to find someone or something to make some sort of profound connection with. The verbs describing the spider, A Noiseless Patient Spider, are themselves symbols of the speaker's seeming satisfaction that he may show to the outside. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Noiseless_Patient_Spider"

    You might also like