What do you think this poem mean?

Question

A Noiseless Patient Spider.

By Walt Whitman

A NOISELESS, patient spider,

I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;

Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;

Ever unreeling them—ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,

Surrounded, surrounded, 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 ductile anchor hold;

Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

Answer 1

I think the meaning is comparitive. Don't you ?

W.W. stands on this Earth - this promontory - patiently thoughtful stoicly like the spider spinning through the night spreading his thouhgts weaving his ideas hopeful that they connect to some meaningful insight.It's the simple things.

Answer 2

I think what Walt was trying to get at here is that people enjoy readin poems so he wrote this one for people to enjoy...Why does everythin have to have some greater meaning? Maybe he saw a spider and he wrote about it. Woo Hoo go Walt

Answer 3

Whitman’s poem, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” is a series of observations made by the speaker relating to a spider and his actions, whether figurative or literal. Through the observations of the spider the speaker relates his point of view about human souls. For example, when the speaker says that the spider “launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself” he is speaking both about a spider making a web and his soul attempting to make connections with the world, to feel a part of something, or find its place in the universe. The first stanza is directed more towards the spider, symbolizing the speaker’s soul while the second is more literal as the speaker directly addresses his soul.

The spider is simply trying to find places to anchor its filaments so it can spin a web, but the speaker’s soul is searching for a lasting connection whether a friendship with another human being or more profoundly a connection with its Creator

Answer 4

Only Walt Whitman knows what it means.

http://hitechstupidity.blogspot.com/