A Noiseless Patient Spider

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) ↗

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, detached, 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.

Notes

//mirror///invocation// Whitman’s spider flinging out "gossamer threads" to catch the stars is a mirror of the soul’s desperate attempt to anchor the self within the vast, empty void. The relationship is one of existential projection, where the self looks out at the abyss and realizes that its only "reflection" is the fragile, geometric web it manages to weave between the known and the unknown. . . #transcendental #waltwhitman #poetry

About the author

Walt Whitman ↗

Walter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.