fisherman finally making a catch (although the
poet does not use this image), his effort will be
rewarded. However, there is no guarantee that he
will succeed in his quest. The only certainty is that
he will go on trying.Desire for Eternal Life
In the edition ofLeaves of Grassin which ‘‘A
Noiseless Patient Spider’’ appears, it is placed in
the section titled ‘‘Whispers of Heavenly Death.’’
Many of the poems in this section are about
death, which suggests another level of interpre-
tation for the poem under consideration: it may
be read as a plea for eternal life. The soul longs to
avoid extinction at death; it desires not to expire
but to expand, to exist in a far fuller dimension
of life than it currently occupies, as tied to a
mortal human body. The poet anticipates that
his soul, at the moment of death, will make a leap
into the soul of the universe; it will be released,
and its isolation will end.Artistic Creativity
The poem might also be seen as a symbolic rep-
resentation of the nature of artistic creativity.
Like an artist or poet, the spider spins its web
out of itself. The poet creates out of his own mind
a poem that he or she hopes will touch another
person in some way, communicating an idea, a
vision, or a moral. ‘‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’’
spent many years germinating within Whitman’s
mind until it eventually emerged and was embod-
ied externally in printed form. The poem itself is
an illustration of its own theme, the attempt to
reach out, speak to, and connect with others. The
poem seeks to make a bridge between the partic-
ular mind of one man and the larger mind made
up of many people in society. Whitman has
expressed this directly himself, in a comment
(quoted in Gay Wilson Allen’sAReader’sGuide
to Walt Whitman) that might serve as a gloss on
‘‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’’: ‘‘I... sent out
Leaves of Grassto arouse and set flowing in
men’s and women’s hearts, young and old, (my
present and future readers,) endless streams of
living, pulsating love and friendship, directly
from them to myself, now and ever.’’STYLERepetition
Artful repetition of key words and phrases
occurs throughout ‘‘A Noiseless Patient Spider.’’
This is a strategy Whitman employs in many
poems (see for example ‘‘The Last Invocation,’’TOPICS FOR
FURTHER
STUDY Read ‘‘The Chambered Nautilus,’’ a poem by
Oliver Wendell Holmes. In an essay, com-
pare and contrast this poem with ‘‘A Noise-
less Patient Spider.’’ In what ways are these
two poems similar, and how do they differ?
Write a poem in which you describe some
aspect of nature—a creature, a landscape, a
specific object—in the first half, and then, in
the second half of the poem, reflect on some
aspect of human life that occurs to you in
observing that natural phenomenon.
Visit the Walt Whitman Archive online at
http://www.whitmanarchive.org/multimedia/
gallery.html and peruse the gallery of 128
pictures of Whitman. Select three or four
from different stages of his life, including
one of the 1854 photographs by an unknown
photographer. In a paragraph or two,
describe Whitman’s appearance for someone
who has not seen these photos. What did
Whitman look like? What sorts of expres-
sions are on his face? What sorts of clothes
did he wear? Then make a caption for each
photograph by using a line taken from Whit-
man’s poetry that seems to suit the image.
At the Walt Whitman Archive online
(http://www.whitmanarchive.org/multime-
dia/index .html), listen to the thirty-six-sec-
ond recording that is believed to be of
Whitman reading the first four lines of his
poem ‘‘America.’’ What is your impression
of his voice and how he reads his own poem?
Does he sound the way you would expect
him to sound? Read ‘‘A Noiseless Patient
Spider’’ aloud, experimenting with pace
and emphasis. Perfect your reading and
deliver it to the class. Then lead a class dis-
cussion on how hearing the poem alters its
overall effect.A Noiseless Patient Spider