A Noiseless Patient Spider
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 toconnect 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.
Words in this poem
- explore v. t.
- To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
- measureless a.
- Without measure; unlimited; immeasurable.
- gossamer n.
- A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders. [OE. gossomer, gossummer, gosesomer, perh. for goose summer, from its downy appearance, or perh. for God's summer, cf. G. mariengarr gossamer, properly Mary's ya]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Noiseless Patient Spider is in the public domain. This text is taken from Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook #1322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walt Whitman, A Noiseless Patient Spider, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/a-noiseless-patient-spider.html, id L04030.
Form and metre
A Noiseless Patient Spider is 11 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is free verse, as Wikipedia: A Noiseless Patient Spider has it. 81% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 9% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in free verse.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against free verse. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A noiseless patient spider, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated, | 17 | ·····/˘/˘˘˘··/˘·˘ |
| Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, | 12 | ···˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament out of itself, | 16 | ···/˘˘/˘˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. | 14 | /˘····/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| And you O my soul where you stand, | 8 | ········ |
| Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, | 13 | ˘/˘˘/·/˘˘/˘·· |
| Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to | 15 | /˘˘/˘/˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| connect them, | 3 | ˘/· |
| Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold, | 15 | ··········/˘/˘· |
| Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul. | 14 | ··/˘˘····/···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.