“As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life” by Walt Whitman

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“As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life” by Walt Whitman"

Introduction:

In a suitably significant contrast, Walt Whitman's "As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life" by Walt Whitman breaks from the all-encompassing "I" offered in Song of Myself. Composed toward the end of his poetic career and placed in the middle of the "Sea-Drift" group of the Leaves of Grass, this poem exhibits a deep existential doubt and creative anxiety, and a radical re-evaluation of the poet's relationship with the universe. Moving beyond the confident Transcendentalist symphony examined in previous analyses, the text interrogates themes of fragmentation, failure and a desperate search for paternal-maternal solace in nature.

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Literary research brings Whitman to the forefront not as a proponent of mystic unity and of Democratic individualism but as an keen explorer of the contradictions of the self. As highlighted in the recent critical studies, the poet's most powerful verse grows out of "the dramatic tensions evoked when the self is shown to be in a state of contradiction or polarity with the not-self". "As I Ebb'd" represents this polarity: the so-called "electric self" that had once confidently articulated poems now appears seized, baffled and mocked. This Newsletter will break down the four part structure of the poem, which can be viewed as a journey from a state of contemplative observation, through existential crisis, to a call for reconnection. In so doing, it provides vital insight into the entire arc of Whitman's poetic and philosophical journey.

The Poem: “As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life”

As I ebb’d with the ocean of life,

As I wended the shores I know,

As I walk’d where the ripples continually wash you Paumanok,

Where they rustle up hoarse and sibilant,

Where the fierce old mother endlessly cries for her castaways,

I musing late in the autumn day, gazing off southward,

Held by this electric self out of the pride of which I utter poems,

Was seiz’d by the spirit that trails in the lines underfoot,

The rim, the sediment that stands for all the water and all the land of the globe.

Fascinated, my eyes reverting from the south, dropt, to follow those slender windrows,

Chaff, straw, splinters of wood, weeds, and the sea-gluten,

Scum, scales from shining rocks, leaves of salt-lettuce, left by the tide,

Miles walking, the sound of breaking waves the other side of me,

Paumanok there and then as I thought the old thought of likenesses,

These you presented to me you fish-shaped island,

As I wended the shores I know,

As I walk’d with that electric self seeking types.

As I wend to the shores I know not,

As I list to the dirge, the voices of men and women wreck’d,

As I inhale the impalpable breezes that set in upon me,

As the ocean so mysterious rolls toward me closer and closer,

I too but signify at the utmost a little wash’d-up drift,

A few sands and dead leaves to gather,

Gather, and merge myself as part of the sands and drift.

O baffled, balk’d, bent to the very earth,

Oppress’d with myself that I have dared to open my mouth,

Aware now that amid all that blab whose echoes recoil upon me I have not once had the least idea who or what I am,

But that before all my arrogant poems the real Me stands yet untouch’d, untold, altogether unreach’d,

Withdrawn far, mocking me with mock-congratulatory signs and bows,

With peals of distant ironical laughter at every word I have written,

Pointing in silence to these songs, and then to the sand beneath.

I perceive I have not really understood any thing, not a single object, and that no man ever can,

Nature here in sight of the sea taking advantage of me to dart upon me and sting me,

Because I have dared to open my mouth to sing at all.

You oceans both, I close with you,

We murmur alike reproachfully rolling sands and drift, knowing not why,

These little shreds indeed standing for you and me and all.

You friable shore with trails of debris,

You fish-shaped island, I take what is underfoot,

What is yours is mine my father.

I too Paumanok,

I too have bubbled up, floated the measureless float, and been wash’d on your shores,

I too am but a trail of drift and debris,

I too leave little wrecks upon you, you fish-shaped island.

I throw myself upon your breast my father,

I cling to you so that you cannot unloose me,

I hold you so firm till you answer me something.

Kiss me my father,

Touch me with your lips as I touch those I love,

Breathe to me while I hold you close the secret of the murmuring I envy.

Ebb, ocean of life, (the flow will return,)

Cease not your moaning you fierce old mother,

Endlessly cry for your castaways, but fear not, deny not me,

Rustle not up so hoarse and angry against my feet as I touch you or gather from you.

I mean tenderly by you and all,

I gather for myself and for this phantom looking down where we lead, and following me and mine.

Me and mine, loose windrows, little corpses,

Froth, snowy white, and bubbles,

(See, from my dead lips the ooze exuding at last,

See, the prismatic colors glistening and rolling,)

Tufts of straw, sands, fragments,

Buoy’d hither from many moods, one contradicting another,

From the storm, the long calm, the darkness, the swell,

Musing, pondering, a breath, a briny tear, a dab of liquid or soil,

Up just as much out of fathomless workings fermented and thrown,

A limp blossom or two, torn, just as much over waves floating, drifted at random,

Just as much for us that sobbing dirge of Nature,

Just as much whence we come that blare of the cloud-trumpets,

We, capricious, brought hither we know not whence, spread out before you,

You up there walking or sitting,

Whoever you are, we too lie in drifts at your feet.

Stanza-by-Stanza Analysis

Observation and the Early Desire to Doubt  

The poem begins with a rhythmic anaphoric procession (As I… As I… As I walk’d”) which resembles the waving movement of the tide, and, thus, creates a time structure that makes the reader think about the relationship between the rhythm of human beings and the cycles of nature. Not only is the setting, the familiar shores of Paumanok (Long Island), given in clear terms, but this gives the work a definite geographical point of departure, upon which the metaphorical journey is to be based. The sea is also anthropomorphized as a raging old mother lamenting over her castaways thus bringing in the element of loss and maternal Nurturing as a cultural construct. The poet at first is confident in his electric self, and poetic pride; but this self is suddenly overcome by a seized response not to a superior vision but to the spirit that trails behind in the lines beneath the feet, that is, to sediment and rubble. This change causes a shift away of the distant horizon and to the slender windrows of detritus and it emphasizes a shift of the cosmic to the fragmentary. The list of rubbish, such as chaff, straw, splinters, scum, scales, etc., is not a hymn to democratic diversity but the witness of the apathetic nature of the disposal. The poet discovers fragments in search of typologies, which points to the constraints of classification in the context of ecological indiscretion.

 The Crisis of Identity and Creative Failure.  

The anaphora is repeated, with a darker color: As I tend to the shores I know not. The once known has been turned into the unknown, and this is an expression of collapse of self-referential assurance. The sound environment becomes a chord of broken voices to create the sound polarity that precedes the crisis. In a disastrous revelation, the poet identifies himself with the rubble: I too but only point to the extreme a little wash up drift. The essence of the crisis is this downtrodden of a once comprehensive I to trivial rubbish. The language is turned in upon itself: baffled, balked, bent to the very earth. The poet is accusing his own work, which he calls blab, and the echoes are bouncing back at him. He admits that he always does not know who he really is; the real Me is not related to him but rather ridicules his pompous poems. Nature, which used to inspire him, now prosecutes him in his ambition: “Nature... seizing the chance to run upon me and sting me. This reversal of Transcendentalist belief highlights the tension between the creative desire and the environmental limitation, and points to the suggestion that the process of creativity itself is refracted through the influence of the forces of nature that the poet cannot control.

The Petition of Paternity 

And out of this crisis comes a desperate cry. Treating the theme of the oceans both (literally and metaphorically), the poet recognizes with the reproaching murmur of the sea. The beach turns into his father, bringing a father archetype to set the balance with the previous mother. The change is noteworthy; it marks the transition between the desire to find a caring love and the need to have a reciprocating secret, the statement of identity that is based on the patriarchal solidarity. The refrain of I too is repeated four times, with the shift in the tone, as the joyful unison turns into the sad solidarity with the trail of drift and debris. The bodily image- I cast myself on your breast. I cling… Kiss me my father—is a hard thing, like a childish desire at a physical discovery, that is, the secret of the murmuring, to which the earlier accoustical experimentation of the poet has never brought him.

Reading the Bible and Drilling Rigs.  

The last part starts with a parenthetical statement of hope: (the flow will return.) The poet touches upon both forces ebbing ocean of life and the fierce old mother, and asks non-denial. He changes his mind to a tender one. The imagery in the poem is widely known to be listed, and shows the boundary between Me and mine. This list turns into a bitter recognition of his disjointed, self-contradictory character: little corpses. Froth… Tufts of straw, sands, fragments... Floated up here, out of a myriad of moods, one opposing the other. He incorporates his own creative work as a physical secretion, ooze dripping at last out of my dead lips. By so doing he does not deny the fact that he, his poems, and all human effort are capricious drift, and spread out before you, the reader, the universe, the phantom looking down. The poem ends not with a boast but with a meager offering: we too lie in drifts at your feet.

Major Themes   

The Crisis of Poetic Identity and Arrogance: The poem is a stern questioning of the poetic self, which addresses the possibility of the poetic project going awry as Whitman is afraid that his words are going to be just a bunch of blab, that they will not get to the real Me.  

The Self as Frail and Unworthy: Unlike the broad self, the narrator in this case introduces the self as a little washed-up drift, an amalgamation of conflicting moods, thus questioning the dialectic between self and not-self.  

Nature as Mother and Father: Nature is the mother and the father in one, the mother and the fish; the former laments the lost ones, the latter stings them, and the poet hopes to find a true father on the shore, my father, a place where he can find answers to questions that the sea of mothers cannot provide.  

Death, Debris, and the Cycle of Life (Ebb and Flow): The death, the wreckage, and fragmentation are placed in the middle of the metaphor of tidal ebb and flow; the poet is in this state of transition, but has the parenthetical guarantee that the flow will come back.  

The Search for Authentic Connection vs. Poetic Performance: The narrator contrasts the hubristic poems of the so-called electric self with the mute and inaccessible real Me, making the poem a search of a real communion with an external power, one that is vulnerable and real.  

The Poet to the Reader: In the final part, the broken self and its inventive effervescence, ooze, is offered at the feet of the reader, whoever he is, as a witness to himself, instead of a prophetic utterance.  

Summary  

As I Ebb with the Ocean of Life is a psychological and spiritual journey tracing along the shores of Paumanok. Starting in a fall reflective mood, the poet is attracted to the remains of the receding tide, which causes an existential crisis that identifies his own identity and his work as a poet with the worthless driftwood, a self-directed mocking identification with an unrealized true self. He goes in deep despair and turns to the natural world, first in hopes of a paternal affection of a father kissing him, and then in a desperate attempt at an uncertain reconciliation. In the end, he comes to terms with his disjointed, conflicting self and gives his very existence, as a set of moods, tears, and unsuccessful attempts, as a humble tribute to the reader, without losing a little hope of a resurgence of the tide.  

Critical Appreciation  

This poem is perhaps the most strong and personal questioning of the doubt Whitman had ever undertaken, a turning point in the evolution of his prophecy into a personality, an outcry of self-confidence. It is great because it boldly addresses the dark side of the Transcendentalist vision. In contrast to A Noiseless Patient Spider, where the soul actively tries to establish contact, in As I Ebb’d, it is completely disoriented, stuttering in front of the sheer size of that work.  

It is symphonic: Section 1 sets the thematic stage; Section 2 descends into the crisis with the horrifying force; Section 3 is a lyrical desperate request to find a way out; Section 4 closes the gap to a quieter, more resigned, and tender acceptance. The changing personification of nature which is both a ruthless mother and an elusive father reflects the psychological ambivalence of the poet.  

This visualization of rubble is effective and maintained and it turns out to be the main, disgusting yet intriguing metaphor of the self, art and the human life altogether. This concurs with the body of scholarship around Whitman using surprising natural imagery to attempt to uncover some fundamental truths: rotting leaves or tufts of straw. The naked emotional sincerity of the poem about the failure of creative work makes it always applicable to artists and conceptualists, which completes the circle of the self-assured mystic by revealing the required, desolating depression between mountains of vision.

Literary Tools and Techniques (With Explanations)

• Extended Metaphor of the Tide & Debris: The entire poem is an extended metaphor where the ebb tide represents phases of doubt, death, and creative depletion, while the washed-up drift symbolizes the fragmented self, failed efforts, and the raw material of existence.

• Explanation: This metaphor provides a coherent, naturalistic framework for exploring abstract psychological and philosophical crisis.

• Anaphora: The heavy use of “As I…” at the start of Sections 1 & 2, and “I too…” in Section 3.

• Explanation: Creates a rhythmic, incantatory, and obsessive quality, mirroring the tidal motion and the poet’s circling, troubled thoughts. It also emphasises the sequential stages of his experience.

• Cataloguing (List): The lists of debris (“Chaff, straw, splinters…”) and the final list of “Me and mine” (“Froth… tufts of straw… a briny tear…”).

• Explanation: Unlike his celebratory catalogs, these are catalogs of fragmentation and contradiction. They visually and rhythmically enact the self’s disintegration and complex composition.

• Personification:

• Nature as “fierce old mother”: Imbues nature with a powerful, grieving, feminine character.

• The shore as “my father”: Creates a masculine, stable, answering counterpart to the maternal sea.

• The “real Me” as a mocking figure: Externalises his inner critic as a separate, theatrical persona.

• Explanation: These personifications dramatise the poet’s internal struggle, turning psychological conflicts into relationships with external entities.

• Shift in Tone & Diction: The poem moves from descriptive musing (“musing late in the autumn day”) to self-flagellating despair (“baffled, balk’d, bent”), to desperate supplication (“Kiss me my father”), to resigned tenderness (“I mean tenderly by you”).

• Explanation: This emotional journey is the core of the poem’s power, showcasing Whitman’s range and willingness to expose vulnerability.

• Apostrophe & Direct Address: The poem is filled with direct speech to Paumanok, the oceans, the father-shore, the mother-sea, and finally the reader (“Whoever you are”).

• Explanation: This creates a deeply intimate, dramatic, and pleading tone. It turns the meditation into a series of urgent, one-sided conversations, highlighting his isolation and need for connection.

• Vivid, Often Unlovely Imagery: “Sea-gluten,” “scum,” “ooze exuding,” “little corpses,” “dead leaves.”

• Explanation: Whitman uses unflinching, physical, and sometimes grotesque imagery to break from idealisation and confront the raw, material reality of decay and the body, which underpins his crisis.

• Parenthetical Statement: “(the flow will return,)” in the final section.

• Explanation: This tiny, hopeful aside is critically important. It injects a note of cyclical faith and potential renewal amidst the acceptance of the ebb, softening the poem’s despair without negating it.

Keywords:

Walt Whitman As I Ebbd analysis, crisis of self in Whitman poetry, ocean metaphor in Leaves of Grass, Paumanok poem meaning, Whitman’s poetic doubt, Sea-Drift cluster study guide, literary analysis of As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life.

Walt Whitman’s “A Noiseless Patient Spider” Themes, Analysis & Literary Devices A Level

 

Walt Whitman’s “A Noiseless Patient Spider”: Themes, Analysis & Literary Devices

For As and A Level English Literature

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A Comprehensive Literary Newsletter for Students 

Introduction: 

Walt Whitman, often regarded as an American poetic revolutionary and the Bard of Democracy, created a body of work that went beyond traditional verse, serving as a spiritual and philosophical exploration of the self, nature, and the universe. His poem A Noiseless Patient Spider is a brief but a perfect example of his Transcendentalist beliefs and mystic tendencies. This newsletter, Walt Whitman A Noiseless Patient Spider: Themes, Analysis and Literary Devices attempts to unpack all the layers of the poem using the viewpoints of scholars to shed light on the depths of its reflection on isolation, creativity, and the soul in longing to be related.

Whitman poetry is also highly connected with Transcendentalist principles- the revelation of the divine in nature, the sublimation of self, and the belief in a unified, collective Oversoul. In addition, his works are marked by strong mystical principles, of which spiritual consciousness develops out of the sense perception and inherent feeling of unity with the entire creation. These themes are best represented in A Noiseless Patient Spider, where a straightforward, witnessed natural event is used as a metaphor of the existential state of the human soul.

This newsletter provides a stanza-by-stanza commentary, discusses the prevailing themes, synthesises the ontology of the poem, critically appreciates the poem, and describes the literary devices Whitman effectively uses. This newsletter is aimed at A-Level and undergraduate students of poetry as well as at those students who have a keen interest in poetry, and it is intended to act as a reliable source of knowledge of this important work.

The Poem: “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 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.

Stanza-by-Stanza Analysis

• Stanza 1: Nature in the Observation.  

• The poem starts with a carefully concentrated detail: A noiseless patient spider. The modifiers used are of utmost importance. Noiseless means a silent, almost ritual process of creation, unlike human action, whereas patient means perseverance and a careful, unheroic work. The spider is placed on a small hill it had stood alone on, a description of space, which is a potent expression of loneliness and a beginning at the center of nothingness.  

• The speaker was marking (recording) the activity of the spider twice, thus, stressing the importance of careful and thoughtful observation. The goal of the spider is to discover the empty expansive around. The alliteration of vacant vast enhances the feeling of a vast emptiness. The chief act goes on: It threw out filament, filament, filament, of itself. The use of filament is repeated to a great effect, just like the constant and repetitive movement of web-spinning. This is a self-made act (of its own) and hence an expression of inner ingenuity and innovation. This stanza ends with the remorselessness of this pursuit: “Ever reeling them, ever relentlessly pacing them. The repetitive nature of the work (the structure of the sentence is parallel, ever... ever) emphasizes the endless, persistent nature of the work.  

• Stanza 2: The Leap to the Human Soul.  

• The second stanza has an aggressive, straightforward analogy in the exclamation of And you O my soul. The reader instantly correlates the exterior natural image and an interior state. The soul, like the spider, is said to be “Surrounded, detached, in oceans of space measureless. The imagery is made to be cosmic- the spider has a vacant vast surrounding and the soul has oceans of space that are not measured- this is the way Whitman thought about the universal consciousness.  

• The activities of the soul are listed in a participial flowing phrase: “Never ceasing to meditate, to venture, to cast, to search the spheres, to relate them. This is a reflection of the endless use of filaments by the spider. A soul is not passive it is in seeking connection over great distances (the spheres). The stanza ends with three clauses of Till, expressing desire and hope: Till the bridge you will need be made, till the ductile anchor hold, / Till the gossamer thread you toss find somewhere, O my soul. The gossamer thread is an analogy to the filament of the spider. The wish is to have the soul efforts to be caught, to find a sense of meaning, relation or rooting in the universe. The repetition of O my soul serves as an address of evocative, sympathetic appeal.

Major Themes Explored

The Isolated Self Seeking Connection: 

• The poem presents in advance the motif of the solitary self seeking contact. The spider and the soul are both imagined as existing in the vast nothingness in isolation and striving to establish relationships outside the worlds to which they belong. This is in accordance with the larger democratic vision of oneness in diversity that Whitman had. 

The Creative Process: 

• The web-spinning of the spider serves to create an allusive metaphor of artistic creation. Similarly to the arachnid, the poet projects threads of thought and linguistic content ("filament, filament") of his solitary self into the wider environment, in the hope of establishing structure, interpretative coherence and relational connectivity. This self-imposed creative phenomenon is supported by empirical studies of his poetics. 

Soul vs. Universe (The Finite vs.) The Infinite): 

• The poem theatrically depicts the limited awareness of the human soul in its interaction with an infinite universe, symbolized by the symbol of immeasurable oceans of space. This is a classic Transcendentalist attempt to capture the infinity. 

Endurance and Hope of a patient: 

• The stylistic devices of lexical character that include the terms patient and ceaselessly are critical. Instead of describing a successful point of fusion, the poem depicts a lifelong, optimistic struggle to a goal like this. The use of Till clauses is a mark of aspiration and not a statement of being, which highlights the continued effort in the face of existential vastness. 

Nature is a Reflector of the Psyche of a Man: 

• Whitman goes beyond the description of nature; he uses nature in the form of the prism of symbolism through which the human spirituality can be grasped. This approach is a central landmark of Transcendentalist thinking, in which empirical observations of nature are subordinated as indicators of metaphysics.

Summary

In A Noiseless Patient Spider, Walt Whitman sees a lone spider working hard to weave its web in seclusion in a distant position into a blank plane. He instantly compares this image to his own soul which he considers to be an equally lonely entity in the vast universe. The spirit, also, as the spider, is involved in an incessant, self-centred act of throwing out strands of thought, desire, and creativity, longing to find attachment, to gain anchorage, to make bridges across the existential abyss. The poem is a brief, powerful musing on loneliness, artistic endeavor and the optimistic, undaunted effort to find purpose and connection in an enormous, cold world.

Critical Appreciation 

 

• A Noiseless Patient Spider is a work of short symbolic poetry. It is so powerful because of a smooth and persuasive comparison between the subject and the viewer. It is often cited by critics as a classic representative of Whitman Transcendentalist. The poem switches between a descriptive approach to detail and an intensive metaphysical conjecture, a feature of Whitman technique.  

• The poem is tight and compact in contrast to the sprawling lists of “Song of Myself, and this reflects the ability of Whitman to express big subjects in a small space. The main metaphor is maintained and extended successfully through two stanzas: the spider bill is the spirit bill, the empty and vast environment is the cosmic space of limitless size, the physical fibre is the gossamer thread of the seeking of the spirit.  

• The tone of the poem achieves solemn pity and silent will power. The mood of isolation and expansiveness has a slight melancholy, but is counteracted by the active verbs - launched, musing, venturing, throwing, seeking. The final, Till, clauses add a touch of unmistakable, though uncertain, hope. The poem is addressed to every human experience of finding meaning and belonging and therefore retains perennial relevance. 

Literary Tools and Techniques (With Explanations)

• Extended Metaphor / Conceit: The poem also uses an extended metaphor where the process of a spider spinning its web can be compared to the soul seeking a connection. Every action of the spider is an analogous action of the soul.

• Explanation: This prolonged analogy allows Whitman to explore the abstract philosophical idea of the state of the soul by using a concrete, visual, and familiar natural image.

• Symbolism:  

• The Spider: It represents the lone self, the artist, and the relentless creative energy.  

• The Filament/Gossamer Thread: The Filament symbolizes thinking, creation, prayer, hope, or whatever channel that the self makes contact with.  

• The Promontory: The symbol of the alienated individual consciousness or corporal being.  

• The empty Vast Surrounding / Oceans of Space: Represent the existential nothingness, the universe, the unfamiliar, or the society.

• Imagery (Mainly Visual and Spatial): Whitman employs vivid and unambiguous imagery to develop a clear mental image.  

• Explanation: The use of images, e.g. little promontory, vacant vast surrounding, and measureless oceans of space, creates impressive impression of scale and isolation, which is the theme of the poem. This is in line with studies that about Whitman visual imagery is predominant in his oeuvre.

• Repetition, Parallel Structure:  

• filament, filament, filament: Imitates the action of the spider, which is repetitive and continuous.  

• Ever unreeling... ever tirelessly speeding: Stresses the endless work.  

• endlessly cogitant, exploratory, cast, hunted: A cascade of rhythmic activities of the soul.  

• The triple Till provision: Creates a sense of expectation and highlights the hypothetical, optimistic goal of the struggle.  

• Explanation: These devices give the poem a rhythmic, incantatory quality that supports the themes of perseverance and the ongoing process.

• Diction (Word Choice):  

• Noiseless, patient, detached, etc.: This creates a quiet, meditative, and remote mood.  

• Vacant, vast, measureless: Enlarge the size of emptiness.  

• Launch’d, venturing, throwing, fling: These are verbs of action, energetic, which contrasts with the inertness of imagery of isolation, thus depicting activity in exertion.  

• Explaination: Whitman uses specific diction which economically sets setting, mood and central conflict.

• Apostrophe and Address: The apostrophe on turn at And you O my soul where the poet is directing an abstract thing.  

• Explanation: This is a dramatic device that makes the abstraction more personal, creates an emotional impact, and makes the reader feel as though he or she is engaged in a conversation with the poet. It is where observation is replaced with application.

• Free Verse: The poem has the standard free verse written in the characteristic free verse that does not contain regular meter or rhyme scheme as exhibited by Whitman.  

• Elaboration: This structural decision allows the rhythm to reflect the natural course of observation and thinking and adds to it an organic, conversational, and meditative sound. It echoes the organic form of Whitman, which is developing, as unerringly and loosely as lilacs or roses on a bush.

Keywords:
Walt Whitman A Noiseless Patient Spider analysis, themes of isolation in Whitman, transcendentalism in Whitman poetry, soul and spider metaphor, American poetry study guide, literary devices in A Noiseless Patient Spider.