The spider is working upon a canvas, referring to it as an "Arc of White" (Dickinson 3) and the mood of the poem is that the spider is quite content to be this way. The spider is working at night and it is the only thing that can contribute to his project. The spider is grounded in his task and while it might look as though there is no planning involved, the poet realizes the spider does have a strategy. The spider is not simply building a bridge but it is also creating a legacy. The mention of the "ruff of dame" (4) and "the Shroud of gnome" (5) illustrate this. It is also worth noting that the spider is projecting itself into its work and this is its "physiognomy" (10). The work is well done so that it seems permanent, like out personal efforts in the world should be. The spider is making its legacy and it is doing so in a way where it can also try to protect what it creates. Like the spider, we, too, must project ourselves into the world and leave our legacy.
Whitman and Dickinson illustrate their capacity as poets by working with a seemingly insignificant subject matter and bringing meaning to it. Spiders in general are seen as pests or simply creepy creatures that we do not give much attention to in our daily...
Spiders, however, spark the imaginations of these poets because they cause them to think about their lives as part of the big picture. These creatures are small and the webs they weave are tiny and delicate but they are strong enough to support the spider and provide sustenance. We sweep spider webs away with the wave of our hand and, with that singular motion, we are wiping away hours and hours of toil. Both poets recognize how futile this appears but they relate it to our own lives. Our lifetimes are brief and we should build to keep ourselves busy and inspired. We do not know when our work will be wipe away and this is all the reason in the world to keep moving and working toward some goal. From the angle of a tiny spider, we see how we make similar contributions that may seem fragile on the outside but serve a worthy purpose to us and our inner worlds.
Works Cited
Dickinson, Emily. "A Spider Sewed at Night." The Complete Poems of Emily
Dickinson. Ed.
Thomas Johnson. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 1960. Print.
Whitman, Walt. "A Noiseless Patient Spider." The American Tradition in Literature. Shorter Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill…
