There Was a Child Went Forth & A Noiseless Patient Spider: A Comparison

Introduction

This paper presents an analysis of the poems There Was a Child Went Forth and A Noiseless Patient Spider in a concise and comprehensive way using the sources mentioned in the list of references.

A Comparison of Both Poems

I like how as the child gets older, the lines of the poem get longer. Written in free-verse, there is an overlapping progression seen throughout the poem: the child first notices objects, then nature, then animals, then people, then machines. The progression can also be seen in the specific things the child notices: at first, he or she notices "early" lilacs, third-month lambs, calves...all things representing new life. The child begins to understand that many different things can have the same color, such as the red and white morning-glories and the clover.

“There Was a Child Went Forth” by Walt Whitman illustrates his position as part of the new American Tradition and his desire to fulfill the call for a poet who “sings the materials of America” by Emerson. The poem is earthy and real: the emotion, events and perceptions are that of the average person. The lofty ideas presented within are approachable because they are part of the every-man's perception and life.

In "A Noiseless Patient Spider," a poem published in 1867 as part of Walt Whitman's masterpiece "Leaves of Grass," the poet discovers that a spider has something to teach him.

In the first stanza, the poet observes the spider. The spider is isolated. It stands on a little promontory, a little piece of rock projecting out into the air, where the space that surrounds it is "vacant" and "vast." Poor little spider, so tiny and alone in the big universe!

Erkkila (pp. 45-57) mentions first of all, this is most definitely a Bildungsroman poem, providing a description of any one child's disillusioning transition from childhood to adulthood. It begins with a child living in the country - nature surrounds the child with good things (like flowers); nature is also a sign of innate goodness and innocence. As the poem proceeds, the child grows, and moves from the country to a small town, to a city (Erkkila, pp. 45-57). The city is very industrialized, crowded, and corrupt. The child has gained knowledge, but he is not bad or corrupt...he is well-rounded, with a healthy skepticism.

Another aspect that you may want to note is Whitman's use of balanced pairs: mother/father, country/city, childhood/adulthood, etc.

Walt Whitman's language is loose yet precise, varied but common, and it illustrates a perfect balance between the real and the artistic. The structure flows coalesces and begins to flow again while all the while remains a simple list-like form.

However, within this list, he pulls and plays with emotions and moves from excitement into doubt and then to resolution to rescind all doubts. Doubt begins as the child moves from the pleasant natural world into the human world he is subjected to. The ills of the drunkard, the boys and his father manipulate ...