Ian Iracheta

Critical Comment of Mr. Edwards and the Spider by Robert Lowell

One of the most enthralling aspects of Robert Lowells Mr. Edwards and the Spider is how the poet managed to create a speculative-contemplative atmosphere out of a seemingly pedestrian phenomenon such as the minuscule journey amongst other aspects of their nature- of spiders. The poem starts fairly innocuously, with nothing but a mere description of a scene the author saw when only ten years old; However, using that childhood memory as a poetic vehicle, he manages, in his adulthood, to create a metaphor for the human condition where the protagonist is an arthropod. In this essay I will analyze wherefore the author chose specific words over others as the figurative pillars for his poetic discourse, and I will disenshroud the cabalistic implications of his choice of words and syntax. In doing so, I will illustrate how his peculiar use of these components contribute to create the overall effect of the poem. I will, as well, show how all of these components culminate in exhibiting the desired attitude the author wanted to portray. Far from being a simple poem about spiders, Lowells work is actually teeming with symbolism that sheds light on the nature of the human condition. The attitude of the poetic voice towards existence is lackadaisical and fairly pessimistic. The first clue that comprehends the ontological implications of the poems message can be found as early as in the first line in the very first stanza. I saw the spiders marching through the air,

Ian Iracheta

The use of the word marching here is of foremost importance and should not be disregarded as a mere clich whose aim is emulating the oft-illustrated image of ants marching. What happens here is far more elevated, because it isnt a re-representation of the proverbial image, but a complete re-imagining of it which heavily connotes an admonishing social commentary. While the simile of a throng of insects walking together in close array, emulating a tight squadron of troops -just as in the marching-ants predecessor- is nothing new, what makes this new incarnation of the simile revolutionary is the fact that Lowell lets the reader catch a glimpse at the figurative place towards which they are marching. They purpose nothing but their ease and die

By means of his impeccable diction as demonstrated in the use of the word marching, Lowell bestows the spiders with a degree of prosopopoeia which is taken to its very apex when he accuses them of having only the purpose of dying. This personalization doesnt only grant the spiders the rank of human. It makes them soldiers. Soldiers who purpose nothing but [..] [to] die. By virtue of two lines and precise diction, the poetic voice is condemning war as only being the vehicle in which soldiers find their demise. This interpretation is unmistakably appropriate as Lowell is well known to have been an active anti-war poet against the Vietnam War, and furthermore, avidly opposed to World War II.

His anti-war poetic policy constitutes an undercurrent that is recurrently connoted in several sections of the poem, regardless of whether the poetic voice is talking about the spiders or something entirely different, such as briar:

Ian Iracheta

It was in vain you set up thorn and briar In battle array against the fire

Again, we see how his ingenious use of diction and syntax pairs up a military term such as battle array or marching with something being done in vain and to no purpose other than extermination. That is, however, not the only component of Lowells poetic discourse. In Mr. Edwards and the Spiders there is also a clear ontological attitude that is made manifest by the complete transposition of the spiders identity onto human beings. The author achieves this by means of alternating the focus of the poetic voice between them throughout stanzas. He clearly talks about the arthropods in the first one, and switches to humans in the second; However, this clear distinction is quickly lost and when one reaches the fourth stanza, the line of continuity seems to break and the subject of the sentence is enshrouded by a miasma of misty connotation. The reason for which Lowell makes the subject of his statements ambiguous is that that, by dint of polysemy in his syntax, he manages to amalgamate the identities of both spiders and humans in the readers mind. This is taken to its very analogical zenith in the third stanza, where the poetic voice actually conveys the idea that the only difference between the two is one of magnitude:

If God who holds you to the pit of hell, Much as one holds a spider,

Ian Iracheta

In conclusion, the only way in which the poem can have the desired effect is by the precise, careful choice of words. Even though it would work if the aforementioned words had been chosen rather deliberately, it is undeniable that it would lose a tremendous amount of its value. The social commentary that the first section of this essay analyses would have had no place had the poet not have been careful as to give grounds for that vital interpretation. If we conceive poetry to be the reduction of reality to its most compressed semantical unit, i.e. words, we can conclude that diction and syntax are actually two of the most prominent elements that comprise it.