Isolation in Poetry

Walt Whitman, a poet and journalist of the nineteenth century, is famous for his ability to see past the physical and write about themes that delve deep into the emotional. In his lyric poem, “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” this fact is highlighted by his concise yet sublime description of isolation as felt by both the spider and reflective speaker. This particular theme of isolation is commonly utilized in writings of detective fiction, such as those by Edgar Allan Poe, to highlight the crazed emotional state of man as well as his fervor and ability, when provided with an enclosed space, to connect the dots and thereby come to a conclusion. In Walt Whitman’s poem, the effects of isolation in detective fiction are mirrored and manifested as reasons for loneliness as well as for finding meaning in the universe by way of the desire for a connection between life’s seemingly meaningless events.

Lyric poetry is defined as “a poem expressing the subjective feelings and personal emotions of the poet” (“Gale Cengage Learning”). In “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” the emotions felt by the beings in the poem itself plays a dramatic effect on the overall tone of the poem, and this feeling is similar to that experienced in detective fiction. In line 2, the theme of isolation comes into play as the spider is described as being alone on a small cliff-like surface (Whitman 519). Through the poet's use of the word “tirelessly,” the speaker begins to sense how the spider must feel endlessly spinning its thread with no real end in sight (Whitman 519). This isolation the spider experiences is compared to the speaker's soul in the second stanza which is endlessly attempting to catch hold of something meaningful in its life. The poet's usage of vi...

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“A Noiseless Patient Spider” contains the theme of isolation as representative of the lonely emotions experienced by society. The confinement experienced by both the spider and the man creates a true desire for events to lead to their lives to “catch somewhere” of importance (Whitman 520). Isolation in both the poem and in detective fiction causes the audience to feel the emotions that the characters are feeling themselves as well as creates the ideal scene for the desire of and for the actual finding of a solution.

Works Cited

"Glossary of Terms." Gale Cengage Learning. Cengage Learning, n.d. Web. 5 Apr 2011.

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Whitman, Walt. "A Noiseless Patient Spider." Prentice Hall Literature Portfolio. 'Ed'. Christy

Desmet. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. Print.