A Noiseless Patient Spider By Walt Whitman

Summary: A Noiseless Patient Spider is about a man that watches a spider shooting a web and imagines it compared to his soul.

Section One:

  • A spider is on a rock in the middle of some kind of water, probably a pond or stream
  • The spider is all alone, with nothing around it; it shoots webs out all around itself

Section Two:

  • The narrator says his soul is surrounded by nothing, it thinks and looks for something to connect to
  • The soul continues to look for something to hold onto until it is found

Other Notes:

  • The narrator notices the spider randomly shoots its web until it hits something solid
  • Whitman decides that the soul acts much like the spider; it is looking for something it can grasp that is solid and will hold strong

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