The Meaning of Life in Whitman and Dickinson's Poems

This lovely paper is going to tell you just what you’re lookin’ for. The two poems by Walt Whitman: "Facing West From California's Shores" and "A Noiseless Patient Spider" both introduce meanings to life. The details of the life are more direct in "Facing West From California's Shores" more so than "A Noiseless Patient Spider." The poem "A Noiseless Patient Spider" seemed to come from deeper inside as if he had a void inside. It seems that in "Facing West From California's Shores" he is more worried about the present, whereas in “ A Noiseless Patient Spider” he focuses on the past. This essay is going to contrast the differences between both of these poems that share a common idea, “the meaning of life.”

What Is the Meaning for This?!

It’s to my belief that "Facing West From California's Shores" introduces the meaning of life better than "A Noiseless Patient Spider,” because in "Facing West From California's Shores" I can relate more to the travels and the necessity for exploration. I can visually imagine the California Shores and the whole world melting in front of it. I can see the foreign lands and far away places. With "A Noiseless Patient Spider” all I see really is a spider in front of water rather than a wandering soul.

Another belief of mine is that the meaning in "A Noiseless Patient Spider” has more of an internal meaning, one in which you should feel rather than see. Sure "Facing West From California's Shores" helps you see visually what your life should amount to, and that there isn’t a set limit, you can do as much as you let yourself succeed to. But it’s what’s on the inside that counts right? "A Noiseless Patient Spider” talks about how your wandering soul needs to find it’s bridge to pass farther on life. And that’s pretty deep considering he says sometimes we have to make those bridges to keep going.

In "Facing West From California's Shores" the present is what is necessary to discuss, the need to find home after traveling for so long. In "A Noiseless Patient Spider” it seems he is looking back on how life has been and the path he had to take, it seemed like a tedious task and an inert one too. Motion to now and even ahead comes out of "Facing West From California's Shores" where he says that he can see the whole world wrap around the shoreline, and in my head it happened slowly and kept movement. The idea of traveling is still common thought, but the idea of actually finding yourself has become a past idea really, and that’s another reason I think that "Facing West From California's Shores" relates better to the present.

Hopefully this essay showed you what you’re lookin’ for abou the two poems and their meanings pertaining to life. That details of the life are more direct in "Facing West From California's Shores" more so than "A Noiseless Patient Spider" because of the direct connection, rather than the emotional connection. You now know why it’s to my belief that the poem "A Noiseless Patient Spider" seemed to come from deeper inside. In "Facing West From California's Shores" he was concerned with the present, whereas in “ A Noiseless Patient Spider” he had focused on the past. So now hopefully this article was able to differentiate the contrasts between both of these poems that share a typical thought, "the significance of life."