Spider's Objective in Whitman and

Spider's Objective In Whitman And Dickinson We often hear the adage that great minds think alike and this is certainly true when it comes to poetry, especially poems about spiders. While we do not think of spiders as interesting subjects, the right creative mind can look at one and see something worthwhile. Such is the case with Walt Whitman and Emily and Dickinson. Both poets, working from the framework of the Romantic influence, looked at nature and imagination for inspiration.

From this perspective, a spider makes an interesting topic to explore. In "A Noiseless Patient Spider," the poet explores the idea of knowledge in the ever-increasing universe. This leads him to consider courage and how that fits into this life. The idea of persistence, even as one realizes that one is merely s spec in the whole scheme of things is significant. This poem is all about observation; the poet watches the spider and becomes involved in the seemingly simple act of weaving a web.

He is literally caught in a web as he watches. The watching becomes an event for the poet as he becomes involved with every single movement the spider makes, the fist stanza is one sentence but the second stanza does not even contain a verb. The subject in the first stanza is the poet's "I," who watches the small creature "isolated" (Whitman 3) in a "vast surrounding" (4) creating something from itself, "ever tirelessly" (5). The poet speaks to himself, reflecting on his own soul.

The words become like the spider's web in that they are grounded with a purpose. The spider knows its purpose and it is intent on getting the job done. This revelation causes the poet to reflect in the second stanza, where he speaks to himself, his soul specifically. He writes, "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" (6-9). Here we see how the poet relates to the spider.

The spider weaves until it creates the bridge it needs and the soul operates in much the same way. By moving from the first-person I to the third person soul, the poet emphasizes the realization of how his soul and the weaving spider have much in common. The isolated spider becomes an inspiration to the poet because he sees great accomplishment with these seemingly insignificant moves. In "A Spider Sewed at Night," we have a similar kind of appreciation for solitude and effort.

The spider is seen as a spec in the wide universe, much like the spider in Whitman's poem. 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 lives. Spiders, however, spark the imaginations of these poets because they cause them to think about their lives as part of the big.