also found in the section ‘‘Whispers of Heavenly
Death’’), but it is particularly appropriate here,
because the repetition echoes the repetitive nature
of the spider’s actions and the longings of the
soul. The repetition is particularly prominent in
line 4, in which the word used to describe the silk
thread generated by the spider is repeated three
times, the commas and the length of the word all
helping to convey the patient, repetitive activity.
Then in line 5, the repetition of the wordeverat
the beginning of each phrase conveys the seem-
ingly eternal nature of this repeated activity.
There are also repetitions in the second
stanza, particularly in the direct addresses to
the poet’s soul, with which the stanza begins
and ends. The last two lines feature a phrase
repeated three times, twice in line 9 and again at
the beginning of line 10, to introduce three differ-
ent metaphors that describe the way the soul,
through its persistent and tireless activity, seeks
to make connections with the larger universe.
The repetition provides emphasis and builds the
sense of an activity going on in much the same
way endlessly.
Allegory and Allegorical Imagery
An allegory is a narrative in which there is a
second level of meaning beyond the literal level.
In what is known as an allegory of ideas, each of
the characters in the narrative may represent
some abstract idea. In this poem, Whitman is
telling a little story about a spider on a promon-
tory, but the real point, the deeper level of mean-
ing presented, is that the spider represents the
human soul as it sends out from itself, like the
spider spinning its web, impulses or vibrations or
other signals designed to connect with something
larger than itself. Since the poem is short and is
therefore not an extended allegory of ideas, it
might be thought of more modestly as embody-
ing allegorical imagery; the image of the spider is
used not just for its own sake but because it
represents something else, the human soul.Free Verse
This poem is written in free verse, which, unlike
traditional poetry, does not rely on rhyme and
meter. Free verse is the most common form of
poetry today, but in the mid-nineteenth century
it was uncommon, and Whitman was one of itsSpider in a web(Image copyright Anyka, 2009. Used under license from Shutterstock.com)
A Noiseless Patient Spider