A Noiseless Patient Spider quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which poetic form best describes "A Noiseless Patient Spider"?

   • Sonnet
   • Villanelle
   • Blank verse
   • Correct answer: Free verse

   Correct. The poem has no rhyme scheme and no regular meter, and its lines stretch and shrink freely, which is free verse, the form Whitman made famous.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Where does the speaker see the spider standing?

   • Correct answer: Alone on a little promontory
   • In a cracked window frame
   • On the mast of a moored ship
   • In the corner of a dim attic

   The speaker says, "I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated." A promontory is a small point of high ground, and 'isolated' tells us the spider is alone.

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3. 3

   Question 3. In the line "I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated", what does promontory mean?

   • A raised platform for speeches
   • Correct answer: A point of high ground jutting out
   • A low, sheltered hollow in rock
   • A broad stretch of flat, open land

   A promontory is a point of high land that juts out, often over water. Standing on one, the spider is surrounded by empty space on every side, which is why it must send its threads outward.

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4. 4

   Question 4. According to stanza one, why does the spider launch its filaments?

   • To trap a fly it has spotted below
   • To mend a web torn by the rain
   • Correct answer: To explore the empty space around it
   • To escape from the speaker's hand

   The speaker watches "how to explore the vacant vast surrounding": the spider sends out threads to reach into the empty space around it. The poem mentions no prey, no rain and no attempt to escape.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Which word does line 4 repeat three times?

   • Correct answer: Filament
   • Gossamer
   • Spider
   • Patient

   Line 4 reads "It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself." The repetition copies the spider's steady, thread-by-thread work.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Whom does the speaker speak to directly in the second stanza?

   • A distant friend
   • Correct answer: His own soul
   • The reader's heart
   • The spider itself

   Stanza two opens "And you O my soul where you stand," and closes with "O my soul." The speaker turns from the spider to his own soul and speaks to it as 'you'.

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7. 7

   Question 7. The speaker calls out "O my soul" as if his soul could hear him. What is this device called?

   • Onomatopoeia
   • Hyperbole
   • Allusion
   • Correct answer: Apostrophe

   Apostrophe is a direct address to an absent person, an idea or a thing, often marked with 'O'. Whitman addresses his soul this way at the start and end of stanza two.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What effect does the repetition in "filament, filament, filament" create?

   • It suggests the speaker cannot find a better word
   • It shows the spider growing tired and slowing down
   • Correct answer: It copies the spider's steady, tireless spinning
   • It imitates the sound of the web as it is being spun

   Each repeated 'filament' is another thread sent out, so the line sounds like the work it describes. The next line, "Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them," confirms the spider never stops. The spider is 'noiseless', so there is no sound to imitate.

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9. 9

   Question 9. How many stanzas does the poem have?

   • Three
   • Four
   • One
   • Correct answer: Two

   The poem has two five-line stanzas: one about the spider and one about the soul.

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10. 10

    Question 10. The whole poem is built on one extended comparison. What two things does it compare?

    • Correct answer: A spider's spinning and a soul's searching
    • A spider's web and a busy city's streets
    • A spider's patience and a hunter's waiting
    • A spider's thread and a mother's sewing

    Stanza one shows the spider launching threads into empty space; stanza two shows the soul "Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them." Carried through the whole poem, the comparison is an extended metaphor.

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11. 11

    Question 11. In the line "Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul", what does gossamer mean?

    • Thick and tightly twisted
    • Correct answer: Extremely fine and delicate
    • Shining like polished gold
    • Sticky and hard to remove

    Gossamer means extremely light, thin and delicate, like a spider's silk. Calling the soul's thread gossamer stresses how fragile its reach is, which makes the hope that it will 'catch somewhere' more moving.

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12. 12

    Question 12. The soul stands "Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space." What does this picture suggest?

    • The soul is drowning in its sorrow and guilt
    • The soul is safely held by those around it
    • Correct answer: The soul is alone in a boundless universe
    • The soul is sailing toward a far-off country

    'Detached' and 'measureless oceans of space' place the soul alone in an emptiness without limits, just as the spider stood 'isolated' on its promontory. The 'oceans' are a figure for space, not a real sea voyage.

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13. 13

    Question 13. How does line 8 describe what the soul is doing?

    • Hiding from the spheres it is afraid to touch
    • Correct answer: Always thinking, reaching and seeking to connect
    • Weaving a web to trap the souls of other people
    • Resting quietly now that its long work is done

    Line 8 reads "Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them." Like the spider 'ever tirelessly speeding' its threads, the soul never stops thinking and reaching out.

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14. 14

    Question 14. In the line "Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold", what does ductile mean?

    • Correct answer: Pliable and able to stretch thin
    • Brittle and quick to snap apart
    • Heavy and firmly fixed in place
    • Hollow, like a pipe for water

    Ductile describes a material that can be drawn out or stretched thin without breaking, as metal is drawn into wire. The soul's 'anchor' is a stretchy thread, like the spider's silk, not a heavy iron weight.

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15. 15

    Question 15. Which theme does the poem most centrally explore?

    • The joy of a crowded, busy city life
    • Regret over the choices made in youth
    • Correct answer: Isolation and the search for connection
    • The cruelty hidden in the natural world

    The spider 'stood isolated' and the soul is 'detached'; both keep reaching out, the soul 'seeking the spheres to connect them.' The poem is about being alone in a vast space and the effort to connect with something beyond oneself.

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16. 16

    Question 16. How does the poem end?

    • With the soul's bridge built and its anchor secure
    • With the spider's web torn apart by a sudden wind
    • With the speaker giving up his long, lonely search
    • Correct answer: With a hope that the soul's thread will catch

    The last line, "Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul," looks ahead. The bridge is not yet formed and the anchor has not yet held; the soul keeps throwing its thread in hope, and the poem stops before we learn whether it catches.

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17. 17

    Question 17. How does the poem's two-stanza structure support its meaning?

    • Correct answer: Stanza one shows the spider; stanza two applies it to the soul
    • Each stanza describes a different spider in a new place
    • Stanza one tells a dream; stanza two shows waking life
    • Stanza one praises nature; stanza two warns against it

    The two five-line stanzas run in parallel: the spider stands 'isolated' and sends out threads, then the soul stands 'detached' and flings its own thread. The stanza break is the turn from the image to what it means.

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18. 18

    Question 18. Which of these happen in the poem?

    • The speaker watches a spider standing alone on a little promontory.

      Happened

      Line 2: "I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated."

    • The speaker hears the spider make a faint sound as it spins.

      Didn't happen

      The poem's first words call it "A noiseless patient spider." It makes no sound.

    • The spider sends out filament after filament from its own body.

      Happened

      Line 4: "It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself."

    • A sudden gust of wind tears the spider's threads apart.

      Didn't happen

      No wind appears in the poem. The spider keeps 'tirelessly speeding' its threads without any setback.

    • The speaker turns from the spider to speak to his own soul.

      Happened

      Line 6: "And you O my soul where you stand."

    • The speaker addresses a lost friend instead of his soul.

      Didn't happen

      No friend is named or addressed. Stanza two speaks to 'O my soul' at its start and end.

    • The soul is pictured in measureless oceans of space.

      Happened

      Line 7: "Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space."

    • The speaker says the soul's bridge has already been built.

      Didn't happen

      The bridge is still to come: "Till the bridge you will need be form’d."

    • The speaker hopes the soul's thread will catch somewhere.

      Happened

      The last line: "Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul."

    • The speaker gently brushes the spider off its promontory.

      Didn't happen

      The speaker only watches ('I mark’d'); he never touches the spider.

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