The Spider and Soul in Walt Whitman's A Noiseless Patient Spider

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The Spider and Soul in Walt Whitman's A Noiseless Patient Spider

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In “A Noiseless Patient Spider”, Walt Whitman compares the images of a spider creating a web to catch its prey to his own soul. In the first stanza, he describes the spider creating its web. In the second stanza, he begins to describe his own soul searching for something it needs. Throughout the poem, Whitman is relating the spider to the human soul by showing how both would pursue and capture what they need to continue to exist in this life.

In line one, “A noiseless, patient spider” shows a spider that seems to be waiting for what it is searching for. Perhaps it is waiting for a chance to strike at its prey if it were detected in time. The soul seems to be doing nearly the same thing when Whitman says the soul is “ceaselessly musing” (line 8). Musing is when someone is pondering about something in silence. Both images are being described as moving in careful silence. The spider seems to be planning to trick the prey into being caught. Perhaps whatever the soul is looking for must be tricked into being caught. If both were to let their presence be known, their elusive prey may disappear.

In order for either the spider or the soul to capture its prey, first they both must create a way to trap what they need and trick it into being caught. “It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them” (lines 4-5). These lines are describing the spider while it makes its web. The poet uses the word “tirelessly” to show that the spider must complete its task of finding sustenance in order to survive. The repetition of the word “filament” shows how deliberately t...

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...er and the soul are alike in how they search for what will continue their existence. For the spider, it is waiting patiently as he tries to find a way to trap his prey in order to continue its life. As for the soul, it must be patient and hold on to what it knows as religious truth as it waits to be nourished by the one that it truly serves. Both the spider and the soul must hold onto their anchor in order to wait for their prey. Once it is spotted, they must move quickly to it in order to ensure that they catch it. Once it is within their grasp, their existence may continue. But, if they are sidetracked by what goes on in their immediate surroundings instead of concentrating on their prey, then they may lose their opportunity for life. That is why the spider and the soul must be patient, noiseless, and ever ready to obtain what they have hunted for so long.

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