UNDERGRADUATE 2ND YEAR SUBJECT: English Language & Literature TOPIC: A Noiseless Patient Spider-­‐by WaltWhitman DURATION: 31:14 min A Noiseless Patient Spider-­‐by Walt Whitman Introduction to the poet: Walt Whitman was an American poet who lived in the 19th century. He began his career as a printer’s apprentice, then moved on to becoming a school teacher and finally set up his own newspaper. As a journalist running his own paper, he was able to establish a career as a writer. He published his first volume of poetry called ‘Leaves of Grass’ in 1885, which invited both praise and condemnation for his work. Whitman kept adding to the collection as and when he wrote new poems. “A Noiseless Patient Spider” may be found in this collection. It a lyric poem of just 10 lines, written in free verse, which means that there was no metrical pattern or particular rhythmic scheme, and no end rhyme. The poem contains two five-­‐line stanzas, the first consisting of one long sentence. The second line or stanza is a long group of words . The poet manages to achieve balance between the two stanzas by the repetition of concepts in both, thus reinforcing the theme introduced in the poem. The Poem as a Metaphor The poem compares a spider to a human soul. Both the soul and the spider tirelessly construct connections to their surroundings. A spider spins silken thread to span a void. A human builds ships, airplanes, bridges. He builds relationships all around him. A soul builds bonds of a different nature. Whatever the form these connections take, the bottom-­‐line is that without these bonds, creatures are lonely beyond what they can bear. The expanse of the world appears vast and endless, impossible to span. It is only by forming links with people and places that humans find solace for their existence. Now, let’s take a closer look at the poem: A noiseless patient spider A noiseless patient spider, I mark’d where on a little promontory1 it stood, isolated, Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament,2 out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. 5 And you O my Soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile3 anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my Soul. 10 Line 1: A noiseless patient spider, •In Line 1 we meet one of the "main characters" in this poem. •This line is exactly the same as the title, which means that, when we’re reading through the poem, the first line is essentially repeated. This has a really important effect. One of the simplest ways to emphasize something is just to say it twice. By the time the reader reads this first line, the image of a spider is firmly planted in his mind. •Beyond that, there are particular things about this spider that Whitman wants us to know. Take a look at those two words: "noiseless" and "patient." •It is quite probable that the spider does make some noise, but just because it’s so small, we can’t hear its sounds. There must be a spider language which spiders use to communicate with each other -­‐ it’s just that they are so tiny we don’t hear it. •We can tell, however, that in commenting on the spider in human terms, the poet is attributing human qualities to it – when a poet does this, it is known as a personification. It is a powerful literary device commonly made use of by poets. When we say that a person is “patient”, we mean that they are calm, willing to wait, etc. As humans, we really have no idea if this spider does indeed have this trait or not, but in interpreting his many attempts as a sign of patience, the poet is seeing him as such. •It is quite a feat that the poet achieves that in 1 line he gives us plenty of information about the spider and we are already beginning to form an opinion about it. Line 2: I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated, •This second line is where the poet chooses to make his entry into the poem. He is here in the “I”. And we find out that he is carefully observing the spider’s every move. •Whitman says that he “mark’d” or made note of, the spot where the spider stood. It occurred to him that this place might be strategic in some way. In other words, it has a significance that the spider should be waiting here. •A promontory means a piece of ground that sticks out, like a little cliff or a ledge over some water or an empty space. •The scene of the poem is set here: there are two characters-­‐ the poet and a spider. One is watching, while the other is being watched. • We also have a description of the setting-­‐ the scene is happening on a rock that protrudes out over something. •The line also sets the tone of the poem by using the word “isolated” to describe the spider’s condition. That means it is all alone. Isolated is a strong word because it stirs up several possibilities: either the spider made a choice to be separated from other spiders, or it experienced loneliness or it was a cast-­‐out, for some reason that we don’t know as yet. The end result is that there is no one with it, to share in the experience that is being described. Line 3: Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, Line 3 lets the reader know that the spider didn’t rush into its enterprise, which, we can guess, is to spin a web. It appears to study the area, considering several possibilities for the best action to take. The feeling that the reader gets is that this is no ordinary spider: this is a spider that is intelligent and thoughtful and perhaps is standing in as a metaphor for something or someone else. Lines 4-­5: It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. We might also surmise that the spider seems convinced that there is something out there to connect with. Hence, he pauses before beginning his task. Eventually, when it seems like the spider has planned sufficiently, he launches forth, spinning his web. These first few “filaments” that the spider spins out will be the hardest -­‐ they will form the foundation for the rest of the web. Much effort and energy is expended at this stage. The spider sends out these filaments in the hope that they will attach to something solid and from there on, it will be an easier task for it. If you’ve never seen a spider spin its web, you might want to see this interesting building project on the two links provided at the end of the lesson. The repeated efforts of the spider and the vastness of the empty space create the emotion of sympathy . We tend to feel: “Poor little spider, it’s so tiny and the universe is so vast!” Humans find the work of the spider interesting; possibly because it resembles human work. Humans also think, plan and strategize before embarking on a project, very much like the spider described here. Again, like the spider, many attempts to gain ground that a human-­‐being might make, could possibly be wrong moves. They might be futile efforts to latch on or make progress. One never knows whether one’s hard work will succeed or if it might even fail… just like the spider. He must keep trying even though he has no idea if his string will link to something, or will break. The word “filament” is used three times in line 4: this is done to bring an emphasis to the flimsy nature of all effort. It is but thin and delicate, and very prone to destruction. It often requires doing again and again and again. The fact that the spider is “ever unreeling” the strings and doing so “tirelessly” also resembles human effort, the unending nature of the hard labour that must go into life. In these lines the poet makes us aware of what the spider is doing but also evokes, through the use of certain images, a sense of sympathy for the spider and also establishes a ‘connect’ with it-­‐ in that we can truly empathize with the spider as a creature that has to do pretty much the same things that we humans are involved with. The work is repetitive and makes the worker feel extremely lonely. We feel empathy for the spider as we watch from the safe distance of the human world. Some critics have noted the use of ‘piscatorial imagery’ in lines 4 and 5. This refers to symbols taken from the realm of fishing or angling. The use of the word “launched” and unreeling are highly suggestive of an angler or a fisherman. The repetition of ‘filament’ three times is indicative of the repeated attempts of the fisherman to cast his line into the water at just the right spot. If you add to this Whitman’s use of words taken from a nautical context, like bridge, oceans and anchor, this only further strengthens the metaphor of fishing. Like a fisherman who waits quietly and patiently for the fish to bite on his bait, the spider quietly waits for his web to connect, the human persists in his attempts to make meaningful links in his human journey. The first stanza also bears a close resemblance to the ancient legend of Robert the Bruce, (Robert the Frist) of Scotland. The well-­‐known legend recounts the story of the 14th century Scottish ruler who was hiding in a cave from his enemies when he beheld a spider patiently and repeatedly make attempts to build a web from one rafter to another. From the spider, the Scottish ruler learned the lesson of “sticktoitiveness” or “if at first you don’t succeed, try, and try and try again. Greatly encouraged, he picked up his courage from the tiny insect, and went back to the battle line, a new man! If you want to read the story, you may do so Stanza II (lines 6-­10): In lines 7-­‐10, he extends the metaphor, never mentioning the spider again. Yet, though the spider is absent visually, the emotions that were created by its presence in the first stanza, linger. Line 6: And you O my soul where you stand, •Suddenly, there is a huge shift. •In this new stanza, Whitman begins by addressing his own soul. In poetry, when a poet addresses something that’s not a person as if it is, that’s called an “apostrophe” Just like the punctuation mark, it has the same spelling, but a different meaning. And the reader stops for a moment, almost in shock, the realization coming that all this time, the poet had been comparing his soul to the spider. Put another way, the spider was an image or a metaphor for his soul. •Whitman has actually brought his soul into the picture in line 6. From a tiny example from Nature, he has accomplished a huge leap to something as abstract and spiritual as the soul. What does the soul look like? Have you ever thought about that? Many of us may never have even thought about our souls, let alone stop to wonder what it looks like! Does it have legs? Can it ‘stand’, as the poet has it doing in line 6? Apparently, this is typical of the poet and he quite easily switches from the tiny to the huge and back again. This is done deliberately to convey that all things in this amazing world are interconnected, even though they may appear to be unrelated! As he has already introduced the image of the spider, and its tentative attempts to link up and make connections, it now is simpler for the reader to see the soul as being involved in a similar attempt to connect. Since we have been thinking about the spider and its attempts to make connections, it is somewhat easier for us to imagine the soul now, doing something similar. In line 6, Whitman says that his soul “stands”. If he had made such a statement in the first few lines, it might have puzzled the reader. However, coming as it does after we have already met the spider standing on a promontory, it is just that much easier. Line 7: Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, •Here, the poet’s trying to give us a sense of how very alone the soul is – just like that "isolated spider" in line 2. Line 8: Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, •Possibly, the soul thinks about the endless oceans of space that lie ahead in the future and contemplates the connections it must make in the present, in order to secure the future. The spheres may stand for people, principles, concepts or even God. These are the possible connections that the soul might want to make. •We are not told what the soul thinks about, but knowing that it’s doing something similar to what the spider did in stanza 1, makes it more plausible. Basically, it is doing something to combat the loneliness of existence. Lines 9-­10: Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul. •In lines 9 and 10, Whitman completes the analogy of the spider with the soul. He compares the tentative attempts of the soul to the fine, delicate and vulnerable strings that the spider spins. Until they connect somewhere, there is such a feeling of insecurity. The aim of the soul, just like the spider, is to establish that contact, build that bridge. The words used to describe the connection all suggest fragility: ductile, gossamer, thread. But the soul will struggle until the link is made, somewhere. It seems really important to establish the first point of contact. After that, it appears to be easy, for the soul as it was for the spider. That first contact is like an anchor. It helps steady the soul. It gives the impression of the end of struggle and uncertainty. It gives the poem a sense of closure. All along the reader can sense that the soul is trying to connect to something, but Whitman doesn’t give the reader any clue about what the soul is trying to link itself with. This is left to the imagination of the reader. Comparison of soul to spider: In the second stanza the poet stretches the analogy between the spider and his soul. Like the spider, the soul is surrounded by measureless oceans of space. Like the spider, his soul also wants to make connections with something outside of itself. In both, the poet captures a sense of yearning, a real and deep desire to connect. Just as the spider wants to throw out silken threads to connect with something solid, the soul wants to throw out a “gossamer thread” to connect with the “spheres”. The poet has a desire to link up with something out there in the vast open universe. It is hard to tell what exactly these “spheres” represent, but they are the objects of the poet’s longing. They might stand for people, love, universal truths or even God. The poet seems to indicate that the connections are delicate by the use of the word ‘ductile’. In comparison to the huge expanse of the universe, Man is essentially miniscule; every attempt made by a man would, inevitably, seem random and an impossibility. Yet, the spider has gone before, to teach the soul the lesson of ‘patience’ and ‘noiselessness’. He never gave up, and he never complained. There is the implication of uncomplaining endurance and repetitive hard work before accomplishment can be enjoyed. Conclusion: Who would have thought that a poet could use a creepy, crawly arachnid to illustrate the yearnings of the soul? This may have seemed implausible at the start, but now looks like a pretty good choice of imagery that invokes rich feelings of tirelessness, undaunted hope and a belief in the presence of a potential linkage out there, even when one can’t see it. Our relatively fragile existence must find constancy in linkages. Man’s resilience and persistence are brought out through our continual searching for meaningful connections in this world. As much as this is true for the tiniest creatures in the Universe, it is also true for Man, the crown of this creation. Afterthought: In contemplating the poem and its significance, I could not help thinking that if the Walt Whitman had been writing the poem in the 21st century, he might have used the World Wide Web as a symbol too. For the world wide web is a means of linking people with other people, and people with the information they need. The success of social networking websites like Facebook testifies that humans are, essentially, social beings. Their greatest satisfaction is in linking with other like-­‐minded humans. And every “search” on a website is the same as the spider throwing out silken threads from its body to make a link or t is like the soul seeking to connect. What a perfect image of the constant attempts of Man to make connections and linkages! The world wide web is just another modern means that Man has found to overcome the unbearable sense of loneliness that is the common burden of our human existence.