A Noiseless Patient Spider

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.