Walt Whitman “A Noiseless Patient Spider“ And Muriel Rukeyser “Myth“

In "A Noiseless Patient Spider", Whitman uses a first person perspective to communicate the story to us. Through first person, we become Whitmans observer, watching the spider with him and through him. Our perception is limited to Whitman himself, observing the spider in it's patient work, analyzing it with his mind. For instance we are not allowed to see things through the spiders eyes, as it weaves away, unbeknowist as to what it is thinking or that which motivates it to do it's patient work, we only see Whitman's idea. Perhaps the spider is simply following impulses that drive it, and it hungers realizing t

Now, when we look at "Myth", we are expanded to a third person point of

Muriel uses the ancient dialogue of Oedipus and the riddle of the Sphinx, which causes him to fatefully murder his father and marry his mother - unbeknownst to him until it is too late. The author uses the old dialogue, and distorts it in a way to benefit her intentions. She uses the mythological theme that is originally expressed by the old story, but she alters it to a feminine perspective distancing the use of "man" and "woman". She also indirectly assigns a female persona to the Sphinx. Oedipus was tricked because in his ignorance, he did not include women in his answer to the Sphinx's riddle "What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?", his answer being "man". Oedipus suggests that woman is implied in the generic term "man", which the Sphinx opposes. It seems then that the author uses this work as a warning to modern men, still stuck in the cognition of olden times.

view. The contrast to Whitman is noticeable, and the story feels different to us. This is because we perceive the story not from Oedipus, nor from the Sphinx, but through the eyes of an invisible observer. The feeling is no longer personal, but transient and God-like. The poem takes the form of a social dialogue between two individuals, a discourse between the Sphinx and Oedipus. We are suspended between the two characters, listening to what each of them have to say to one another but due to the perspective we are unable to hear their inner minds ticking. We hear their responses to one another, but only at a vocal level which leaves out alot of potential information. We are expanded beyond the two consci

Some topics in this essay:
Oedipus Sphinx, Spider Whitman, Sphinx Oedipus, Spider Myth, third person, , Patient Spider, Noiseless Patient, patient spider, noiseless patient spider, speaking spider, person narration, form social, biased towards, oedipus sphinx, it's patient, elements utilized, noiseless patient,