"A Noiseless Patient Spider" is a poem by Walt Whitman, published in 1867 in an edition of Leaves of Grass.
Whitman’s poem, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” is a series of observations made by the speaker relating to a spider and his actions, whether figurative or literal. Through the observations of the spider the speaker relates his point of view about human souls. For example, when the speaker says that the spider “launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself” he is speaking both about a spider making a web and his soul attempting to make connections with the world, to feel a part of something, or find its place in the universe. The first stanza is directed more towards the spider, symbolizing the speaker’s soul while the second is more literal as the speaker directly addresses his soul.
Many of the different 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.
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 speaker’s possible doubt in the meaning of life. If the spider is the speaker’s 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.