Analysis of the Form of "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman?

Question

I know someone answered this poem with a great analysis of "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman. I have been trying to delve deeper and find how literary terms contribute to the overall meaning of 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

If anyone sees any other ways I can use literary terms such as alliteration, assonance and how they contribute to the overall meaning of the poem, please answer!

Answer 1

The only other term you might need is consonance.

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of syllables; the repetition of consonant sounds elsewhere in the syllable is consonance.

Look at the last five lines of the poem. Listen for all the s/zh/sh/z sounds: soul, stand, surrounded, meaSureleSS, oCeanS, spaCe, ceaSeleSSly, muSing, seeking, sphereS, goSSamer, somewhere, soul. The letters I've capitalized exemplify consonance along with all the alliteration.

The first three of these lines might be called an example of onomatopoeia (words that imitate the sound they are describing; e.g., bang, crash, grrr, ding-dong). In this case, all those s's swishing around in these lines sound like the "ocean," which Whitman is using here as a metaphor for "the vacant vast surrounding" mentioned earlier. Notice how the “s’s” in that phrase get picked up in the elaboration: “vast surrounding” = “oceans of space.”

[Of course, I know you will give me proper credit for the ideas I've shared with you in your paper/project with proper recognition of and appreciation for Yahoo! Answers.]

Answer 2

Aw, c'mon now. You can do a little bit of the work yourself. And you could have expressed some appreciation to the person who gave you "a great analysis" to begin with. Apparently neither you nor the other voters liked that analysis, so why should anyone want to take the time to give you another one.

Your teacher is getting paid to teach you this; and you are getting the grade for a "great analysis." Surely you can find a few more examples of alliteration and assonance on your own. If not, forget it!

Answer 3

he is trying to find his soul.he feels that he isnt connected with it and needs to be loved.