Page 183 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“A Noiseless Patient Spider”
by Walt Whitman, page 67

Vocabulary
promontory – part of land that projects out, as into water
ductile – in this case, capable of being drawn out into threads
gossamer – delicate; gauzy

1. Why do you think Whitman uses the repetition of “filament, filament, filament” in the
fourth line, rather than simply using the plural “filaments”?

2. In what way is the speaker’s soul similar to the spider?

3. Record an instance of apostrophe in the poem.

4. How does the speaker seem to feel about his soul? What emotion is there?

5. What analogy does he make using the spider that is the subject of his title?

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