a noiseless patient spider

A Noiseless Patient Spider
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.
This is a short, fun poem from the middle of Walt Whitman’s career. Even though it’s only ten lines long, it picks up a lot of the big themes in his writing, and it has a lot of depth, which you don’t necessarily see at first. This particular poem showed up in The Broadway, A London Magazine . In the magazine format, it appears in a group of five poems with the title "Whispers of Heavenly Death." In spite of that creepy association, though, this poem shows Whitman in his prime. In just ten lines, you can tell that he’s full of the energy, imagination, and excitement which have made him so popular for so many years.
Walt Whitman describes a spider beginning to work on its web. It’s doing the trickiest, most uncertain part of the job: trying to lay down the first line. It’s shooting out lots of little strings, trying to get one of them to stick to something. Then, to let you know that this poem isn’t just about a spider, the speaker tells us that this is a metaphor for the soul, which also explores and tries to connect. Speaker Point of View Even if he’s perfectly sane, he has the kind of vision that most of us don’t have, and the way he explains it makes it clear that he sees the world differently than we do. In fact, we’ve got another name for this kind of guy: a prophet. Sometimes they get mistaken for madmen, but they differ in that there is something true and original about their visions. The speaker of this poem doesn’t want to bug (annoy) you. He really wants you to think about the soul and how it works. He believes that he has a message for mankind. This is probably more what Whitman hopes you think about his speaker.
A Noiseless Patient Spider Setting
We don’t get a lot of help with the actual setting of this poem. In fact, the only place we hear much about is "a little promontory." Thanks a bunch, Walt – that makes everything clear. But, maybe because he doesn’t give us much help with the setting, this allows us to imagine a new setting which would fit the mood of this poem. So, bear with us here, because we think this poem could easily take place in the middle of outer space. Seriously.

In the first half of the poem, he tells us about the spider and the "vacant vast surrounding" (line 3). In the second half, he imagines his soul surrounded by the "measureless oceans of space" (line 7). So, just think of that spider marooned (left) on an asteroid (rock) , trying desperately to reach out and grab something. Then, think of Whitman stuffed into a space suit (beard and all) and cartwheeling through empty space, trying to grab onto something. This poem is as much about isolation, empty spaces, and the absence of a setting, as it is about being in a particular place or time.
What’s Up With the Title
Well, it matters a lot that it’s exactly the same as the poem’s first line. A title always gives a poet an important chance to draw our attention to a particular part of the poem. Here, Whitman uses it to underline the main image, that quiet spider. The spider really matters. It’s a kind of a key to the meaning of more abstract parts about the soul. So, it makes sense that he really wants to burn that character into our brains. It always helps to think about the other ways Whitman could title the poem. He could give away the whole plot, and call it "The Spider and the Soul." How would this change the feeling of reading the poem?
A Noiseless Patient Spider: Rhyme, Form & Meter
We’ll show you the poem’s blueprints, and we’ll listen for the music behind the words.
Free Verse
As is almost always the case with Whitman, this poem is written in free verse. That means that it doesn’t rhyme, and there’s no set rhythm or meter. This form of poetry was pretty controversial at the time, and for some people, it still is. The big question is: if this doesn’t rhyme or use meter, why is it a poem? Is it just a series of sentences broken up into shorter lines?

Now, there are elements here which fit our definition of poetic style. Repetition is a key one. Whitman repeats words like "filament" in a way which draws attention to their sounds. This technique is pretty different from the ones which we find in novels, for example. It is an open and personal question, though. Does this piece fit with your idea about what a poem ought to be?
The Spider
Symbol Analysis
This adorable arachnid is the title character of the poem. A description of its web-building dominates the first five lines, and its image lingers throughout the poem.
Line 1: The image of the quiet, hard-working spider drives the poem. Once we have the picture of the first stages of its web-building in our heads, the rest of the poem starts to fall into place. When the speaker describes the spider as "patient," that’s personification, since the speaker uses a human quality to describe a non-human thing.
Line 3: Whitman really want us to pick up on how isolated this spider is. When he describes the space around the spider as "vacant, vast," the alliteration of those two lines makes this stand out in our minds.
Line 4: Here, Whitman focuses our attention on the other important quality of the spider: the fact that he’s a hard worker. The repetition of the word "filament" matches with the repetition of the spider’s actions. The poem both describes and does the spider’s actions. Alliteration is key here, too. See how "forth filament, filament, filament" repeats the "f" sound four times? He really wants us to notice that repetition. Think about the sound of that "f," too. We know that the shooting web of the spider doesn’t make a noise that we can hear, but, if it did, it might be a rushing, hissing sound – like a long "f" repeated again and again. So, in just a few words, we get the description, the action, and the sound of the spider’s web spinning.
The Soul
Symbol Analysis
Here’s the other half of the poem’s big comparison. In the last five lines, we switch over to the spiritual side, although the image of the spider remains important.
Line 6: Here’s where Whitman turns toward the soul. He introduces it by calling it directly by name, like you would a person. When you talk directly to an idea in a poem, it’s called an apostrophe. It’s an old poetic trick, and Whitman uses it. The use of the word "O" is common with this technique. Here, it’s used to make the soul a living, active presence in the poem.
Line 8: Just like he did with the spider, Whitman makes his soul an almost-human character. Now, this is a trickier example, since the soul might technically be part of a human being. Still, the way it muses, ventures and throws all by itself suggests that this is a personification of the soul.
Line 10: Whitman saves the best for last here. When he uses the word "gossamer," he pulls out a pretty spidery term. The gossamer thread makes us think of the spider’s strings, and it sews up the extended metaphor that is the whole point of this poem. Whitman never says, "My soul is like a spider," but the way he places these ideas next to each other, and the similarity in the descriptions, does the job just fine.
A Noiseless Patient Spider Theme of Spirituality
This is another theme which Whitman confronts head-on. After all, he spends half the poem talking about the soul, which is a pretty spiritual concept. That said, Whitman always has trouble doing like other people, and his use of spiritual imagery is almost always totally different from the stuff you generally hear about in organized religion.
A Noiseless Patient Spider Theme of Isolation
Whitman helps us out here by actually using the word. Remember how that spider "stood isolated" in line 2? The poet makes a big deal about how the soul is also cut-off from other objects and the outside world. A feeling of isolation might be the biggest emotional component of this poem.
A Noiseless Patient Spider Theme of Exploration
The theme "Exploration" is easy to pick out, since the spider and the soul both explore. This theme helps us to see the more positive aspects of the poem. There is a hopeful note here, especially at the end. Eventually the spider will start his web, and the soul will make contact with something across that vast ocean. Exploration is exciting, full of promise and hope – although it can also be boring, scary, and dangerous.

Line 1
A noiseless patient spider,
Here’s where we meet the "main character" in this poem.
This line is exactly the same as the title, which means that, when we’re reading through the poem, the first line is essentially repeated. This has a really important effect. One of the simplest ways to emphasize something is just to say it twice. By the time you finish this first line, the image of a spider is firmly planted in your mind.
Beyond that, there are particular things about this spider that Whitman wants us to know. Take a look at those two words: "noiseless" and "patient."
Now, noiseless is easy, since it pretty well describes most spiders. In fact, if you meet a spider big enough to make noise, you need to back away very slowly and then… run!
There might be one more thing to notice about this. A spider must make some noise; it’s just too quiet for us to hear, right? This only matters because it starts to give us an idea of who is seeing this spider. Already, we can tell that something much bigger is looking at this creature.
This point is emphasized by the next word, "patient." When we say this about a person, we mean that they are calm, willing to wait, etc.
Now, we can guarantee you that no one who has ever lived knows how a spider "feels." This spider might be noiseless and cranky, or bored, or feel nothing at all. When a poet gives an animal a human characteristic like that, it’s called personification, and it says a lot about how he wants us to see this spider.
Already, just a line into this poem, and, mostly thanks to these two words, we have a lot of information. We have a clue about who is looking at this spider, and how they want us to feel about it.
Line 2
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Whitman does like to get a little fancy with his word choice, so let’s start with some definitions.
In this line, "I mark’d" is just an old-fashioned way of saying "I saw" or "I noticed."
A promontory means a piece of ground that sticks out, like a little cliff or a ledge.
Don’t let that "I" sneak by you, either. That’s the speaker of the poem, quietly introducing himself. He could have stayed behind the scenes, and we would have assumed that someone was watching and describing the events, but, instead, he chooses to peek out.
So, now, we have all the basic physical elements of the poem. There are two characters (the watcher and the one being watched), as well as a description of the setting.
We also get a better sense of the poem’s mood in this line. The word "isolated" is an interesting choice. It’s definitely a little stronger than some of the other words Whitman could have used, like "by itself" or "alone." He even could have left the word out entirely, and the line would still make sense. With the word "isolated" there, we start to think about loneliness, separation, being an outcast, and all that depressing stuff.
With just a few words, we turn this spider into a tragic hero. OK, maybe that’s too much, but we definitely know this isn’t "just a spider."
Line 3-5
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.
Whitman keeps up observing the spider here.
Basically, over these three lines, he describes how the spider lays down the initial bridge which will become the foundation for its web. This takes a lot of trying, and the spider keeps shooting out webs into empty space. It’s using them to explore the area, and hopefully to attach them onto something solid so that it can start to build its web.
Now, we’re not scientists, and neither was Walt. But, apparently, he was a good observer, because this really is how some spiders build their webs. (For more on that, check out the "Videos" section, and look at the animation in the link called "Spider Web Video").
In addition to telling us how this works, Whitman really wants us to focus on what a lonely job web-building is. In line 3, he describes the space around as "vacant vast."
These words, with their repeated "v" sounds (what English teachers call "alliteration"), emphasize the same thing as "isolated" in line 2. Whitman tries to give us an intense experience of how alone this spider is, and to encourage us to sympathize with it.
This work isn’t just lonely, it’s repetitive. The little spider basically fishes in the air. He must try again and again to start his web, and he’s never sure when one of his strings will hit.
To point this out, Whitman makes his poem repetitive, too. In line 4, he writes the word "filament" (which just means "string") three times, to imitate the way the spider has to do this again and again.
That’s the same feeling we get in line 5. The spider is "ever unreeling" the strings, "ever tirelessly speeding them" (speeding just means "shooting them out"). The repetition is key.
In these three lines, Whitman wants us to learn what the spider is doing. But, he also really wants us to feel what this lonely, repetitive work is like.
This is also a really beautiful chunk of the poem. Read that filament line a few times out loud. Trust us; it’s fun.
Line 6
And you O my soul where you stand,
This is a big shift.
In this new paragraph, Whitman begins to compare his own soul to this image of the spider. In the rest of the poem, he’s basically completing the other half of a big metaphor.
In fact, he won’t even mention that spider again, but he definitely relies on the visual and emotional picture he gives us in the first five lines.
When he introduces his soul (maybe we can think of this as the third character in the poem), he moves from a tiny example in nature to a big, abstract, spiritual point.
This is Whitman’s style. He loves to switch from big to small and back again. It’s a way of showing us how he believes that the different parts of the world are related, even if they are really far apart, or look very different.
Also, since he set up the picture of the spider, the image helps us to visualize a thing that we’ve never seen, like a soul.
He talks about where his soul "stands." If this were the first line of the poem, it wouldn’t mean much. How can a soul "stand" anyway? But, since we can compare it to the spider, it seems less weird. We can sort of see his soul standing on a "little promontory," like where the spider "stood" in line 2.
Oh, and as a bonus, take a look at that part where he says, "O my soul." When a writer talks straight to an abstract idea like that, it’s called an "apostrophe." Yeah, just like the punctuation mark. Don’t ask us why they couldn’t come up with another word.
Line 7
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Here, he’s trying to give you a sense of how very alone the soul is – just like that "isolated spider."
We know you have the point by now, but just take a second to look at how carefully he sets up this comparison.
Here, the "measureless oceans of space" match up with the "vacant vast surrounding" in line 3.
Even the word "surrounded" pops up again here, echoing that same word he chose before. Except, maybe here, it’s even a little bit more intense.
Those measureless oceans sound really huge, and they might give you a feeling of profound loneliness that you didn’t have before. With the spider, we were in a normal space, somewhere on Earth. Now, we seem to be on some other plane, some huge outer or inner space. Whitman can definitely be a little weird when he wants to.
Line 8
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Now, the soul begins to spin its metaphorical webs.
These spider-like strings are what the soul is "throwing" in this line.
It uses the imaginary webs to explore the space; the soul is "venturing," "seeking."
This work, like the spider’s, is repetitive and endless. Whitman tells us that the soul always works and thinks – "ceaselessly musing," as he puts it.
But, what in the heck does the soul actually do? Maybe Whitman imagined something, in his spaced-out visions, but we’re not used to a soul "doing" anything.
This is why leading off with the spider example is so important. Now that we’re traveling through space, it seems less weird, because we can always rely on the metaphor of the spider. When we get confused about this journey of the soul, we can always compare it to the spider’s simple web spinning.
Lines 9-10
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.
Now, Whitman really brings the spider analogy home.
He begins to imagine what it is like when the soul succeeds, when its "gossamer (that just means "silky") thread" finally catches a solid point.
All the spider (and, apparently, the soul) needs is that first bridge, and then it can make all the other strings in its web.
He plays around with this idea a little, like when he talks about the "anchor" being "ductile." All that he means there is that the thread which the soul attaches is stretchy, and can be pulled out without breaking.
Whitman’s not very formal about his poetry, but he does get excited, and does let himself get carried away by an unusual word or a fascinating image. It’s part of his unique style, and can be charming when you get used to it. He really embroiders these last two lines, helping us to imagine how satisfying it is when that first line catches.
He emphasizes this by repeating the first two words ("Till the") in these last two lines. It gives the poem a sense of closure, like the rhyming couplet at the end of a sonnet.
But, before we leave this poem behind, we might need a serious reality check. Sure, we can tell that the soul tries to weave threads, kind of like a spider. It tries to start some kind of metaphorical web. But, what could Whitman possibly be talking about?
He leaves the poem on a mysterious note, since we know that the soul is trying to connect, but he doesn’t really say how, or to what.