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Walt WhitmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The poem focuses on a tiny spider perched on some protuberance. Despite the overwhelming evidence of its insignificance measured against the “vacant, vast” (Line 3) world all around it, the spider never stops shooting its filaments into the vastness. This action symbolizes the restless energy of the soul yearning to find connections into a world so vast and so complex that the individual can feel isolated and superfluous. To emphasize the sheer intensity of the spider’s dedication to making connections that defy its evident vulnerability, Line 4 repeats the word “filament” to suggest that level of commitment. The spider can also symbolize the restless soul in every person who reaches out to find a place in the cosmos, or the spider might symbolize the artist creating works that survive centuries and reach across the boundaries of time and space.
The poet elects an unusual adjective to describe the furiously diligent spider: “noiseless” (Line 1). Of all the descriptions applicable to a spider, the fact that it does not make any sounds might seem obvious, even silly. As Whitman’s symbol for both the soul and the poet, "noiseless" adds a critical element to the spider. In both cases, the earnest efforts to find a place in the cosmos that can defy the limits and the terrors of both time and space are done quietly; indeed, the efforts of the soul to find its place in the cosmos is an internal quest, a journey outward that is in fact inward.
By Walt Whitman
A Glimpse
A Glimpse
Walt Whitman
America
America
Walt Whitman
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Walt Whitman
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
Walt Whitman
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Walt Whitman
For You O Democracy
For You O Democracy
Walt Whitman
Hours Continuing Long
Hours Continuing Long
Walt Whitman
I Hear America Singing
I Hear America Singing
Walt Whitman
I Sing the Body Electric
I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman
I Sit and Look Out
I Sit and Look Out
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
O Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
Song of Myself
Song of Myself
Walt Whitman
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Walt Whitman
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
Walt Whitman