''A Noiseless Patient Spider'' by Walt Whitman

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Walt Whitman is one of America's most famous poets.

Watch the video below to learn a little about him before studying his poem.

Now, explore several presentations of one of Whitman's poems.

First, read the poem "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman.

• 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.

Next, listen to an audio recording of the poem.

Finally, watch the video below to view three more presentations of this poem in different media. As you watch, consider which medium — paint on glass, video, or scratchboard — is most effective.

• Which presentation did you like best?

Move to the Got It? section to look closely at Whitman's poem.