A+patient+spider

The poem " A noiseless patient spider" is a poem relating to people and patience. I think its a metaphor to how we should live. It tells us of how the spider is patient while making his web. He does this with caution and even though it took a long time to spin the web, it was worth it because he was patient and made it his best. As the spider, some people are very cautious of our actions and do things in a slower pace, while many of us in the modern days rush everything and don't do they job to its full perfection.

1199765477epa

Out of all the strange poems by Walt Whitman this one made the most sense even though I found it rather strange. I believe it telling people to be patient but not just to do good tedious work. From the last line “Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul” I believe it’s telling people to be patient until they find their call in life, to do what makes them happy and seems to fit into their life like another piece of a puzzle. I believe it’s telling you that you need to find something that your happy with, that you love and then live your life to the best extent and not let your life live itself. Life is short and you have to grab it as tight as you can and not do what is necessarily normal but do what makes yourself happy.

1199756665

I think that the spider was an ideal creature for Whitman to use in his metaphoric poem. The poem focuses on one aspect of the spider's life, the spinning of its web, and how patiently and diligently it worked while doing that. The spider did everything it could,no matter how long the process, to make a pristine web in the end. It is kind of how people should be:give it all you got because in the end there will be something greater. From the the lines "...seeking the spheres, to connect them; Till the bridge you will need, be form’d" its mentions our patience and how we should just wait because everything will eventually fall into place in the end (like the line "thread you fling, catch somewhere"). Also I think that Whitman's poem has a small message about independency. It talks about how the spider is isolated and then starts working to complete its own web; to me it's saying how we have to dictate what we do in our lives, and nobody can finish things we start for us. We are meant to achieve things on our own sometimes just like the spider is meant to spin its own web...even if it takes time. 1200322304

The poem "A noiseless spider" is used in relation to the patience that people have in their lives. It tells how the spider used its patience to make its web. This is express in the line, 'Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding.' This shows how the spider made sure he was about to make his web in a good place. I think this poem can be used as an example of our lives today. Some people rush into what they are about to do. When this is done, things do not always turn out as planned. However, when people have patience and take their time in what they do, the result is success. It is like the saying, good things come to those who wait, except in this case it is good things come to those who have patience. 1199766431KCa

I agree that i think that the poem "A Noiseless Spider" relates to people and how they should be patientce. This poem talks about how the spider is very patient when it makes its web. Even though it takes him a long time to spin the web he does it cautiously, and the web turned out to be really good. I think this poem is a metaphor for jobs. If we do jobs cautiously and patiently then the work we do at our job will be really good. Normally people rush to get things done so I think that maybe we should do things a little more patiently. 1200323487

I agree with epa1. This poem first tells about how a spider is patient and cautious with spinning its web. In the same way, there are people in the world who are cautious and patient in their jobs or other activities. Whitman uses the metaphor of a spider to show this in a clear, concise way. The thing about this poem that I did not get was the second part of the poem. Why does Whitman all of the sudden start talking avbout his soul? If this poem is about a spider, there is no reason for him to mention his soul. He does not even transition into talking about his soul either, he just goes straight into talking about it. Although Whitman does use the second stanza to help us complete this metaphor, he could have had a smoother transition between the stanzas. Overall, I thought this poem was OK. Whitman makes a good metaphor with this poem, but he needed to work on the transition from the first stanza to the second one. The poem would have been much easier to understand had he done this.1200347058

You make a good point, Phil, about the difference between the two stanzas. I see it this way: in stanza one we are presented with the situation of the spider, throwing out his bits of web ("filaments"), hoping they will catch on something so he can begin to build his web. Stanza two seems to come out of nowhere, but notice that it begins with the word "And". This creates a mental link between the two stanzas even if we're not sure what that link is. But then WW says "O my Soul, where you stand," and we connect that with the spider where "it stood, isolated". This creates a link between spider and Soul. It's a parallel situation. Both are standing, both are facing a big open space, and both are trying to bridge or connect with something out there in that space.

It's not a simile (a comparison using like or as); it's a metaphor (a comparison that doesn't use like or as). We're expected to make the connection just because one comes after the other ... and because of these other common points that I mentioned.

I'm looking forward to your continued post. 1200330672

I think this poem was discussing the many aspects of patience what comes with it. Whitman talks about the spider building the web and how much of patience was needed for that task. I feel that Whitman might've used the spider's situation in relation to patience we come across in life. Us, people have come across obstacles that we feel takes a numerous amount of work, time, and energy. These requirments were the same of the spider's job. Eventually in life we'll all have to build a web of our own. It will take a large amount of effort but in the end, we'll realize how much of worth it will be to us. I think Whitman was trying to point this out to us, while using metaphors constantly throughout the poem.

1201113983

I thought this poem taught people how to appeal to people through their actions and not their words and how people can make followers for certain beliefs such as political beliefs or making friends. For example in the first stanza it talks about standing isolated which could mean being shy. It also talks about exploring surroundings which could mean being independent. And launching out filaments could meaning teaching others their ways. In the second stanza Whitman talks about being alone and surrounded by space which means that people start alone. Then Whitman talks about making a bridge and an anchor hold which means that the person who starts the bridge makes it easier for people to follow along in their footsteps. The last line says that when you fling you catch something which implies that it is very hard to fall off an already established and well accepted belief.

1201229027

I think this poem does relate to patience. Whitman carefully describes how slowy and patiently the spider made its web. In the second line Whitman says "on a little promontory, it stood." A promontory is like a little peninsula, this shows how the spider made sure it was away from distractions and so forth. I really love how he compares the spider making the web to his soul. Overall, this poem really shows how patient you must be in life and how you should be able to face the times in your life when you must face situations where patience is required, this is a very short poem, but it was extremely easy to understand.  - jpu  Jan 15, 2008 4:58 pm

I agree that this poem relates to patience but I think that it has more meaning than just being patience. In the second line of the poem, it says that the spider is at a promontory. The spider does not panic but instead, is very calm. He patiently launches his filaments in order to make a some kind of bridge that will get him over the promontory. In the second stanza, Whitman relates the spider to his soul. By this, he is saying that his soul is at a state of insecurity and is patiently building his 'bridge' to escape from it. Whitman is trying to tell us that sometime in our life, we face difficulties. In those times, we should be calm and patiently build our own 'bridges' that will help us get over the problem.  - npa  Jan 14, 2008 4:58 pm