Can someone please help me with a question I have on a poem by Walt Whitman?

Question

I have a question regarding the poem "A Noiseless, Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman: How does the poem reflect Whitman's uncertainty about man's destiny?

I feel like, out of the entire poem, these lines are the most important for this question:

"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 formed, till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere,

O my soul."

Answer 1

Hello! I would advise you to pay attention to the diction in these lines. The oceans of space are "measureless." Man is "musing, venturing, throwing, seeking." The threads are being "fl[u]ng." All of these words connote uncertainty, and I think you can extrapolate from there. Good luck!

Answer 2

Just as the tirelessly continues its attempts to reach a final hold, so the speaker of the poem continues the activity of the soul till he finds and anchor, and the threads he flings find a hold. There is no certainty that he will ever achieve what he aspires to do, but he will continue to do it just as the spider continues on. The uncertainty lies in the fact that there is no assurance or guarantee that he will ever find anchor or the thread will ever catch somewhere. All he can do is to continue to try. Therefore, his destiny, and the destiny of everyman is uncertain.