--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I saw the spiders marching through the…" description: "\"I saw the spiders marching through the air, Swimming from tree to tree that mildewed day In latter August when the hay Came creaking to the barn. But w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/robert-lowell-6901_air_i-saw-the-spiders-marching-through-the-a_1098239.jpg" --- # I saw the spiders marching through the air, Swimming from… ![“I saw the spiders marching through the air, Swimming from tree to tree that mildewed day In latter August when the hay Came creaking to the barn. But where The wind is westerly, Where gnarled November makes the spiders fly Into the apparitions of the sky, They purpose nothing but their ease and…” quote by Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/robert-lowell-6901_air_i-saw-the-spiders-marching-through-the-a_1098239.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/robert-lowell-6901_air_i-saw-the-spiders-marching-through-the-a_1098239.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c99/robert-lowell-6901_air_i-saw-the-spiders-marching-through-the-a_1098239.jpg) > “I saw the spiders marching through the air, Swimming from tree to tree that mildewed day In latter August when the hay Came creaking to the barn. But where The wind is westerly, Where gnarled November makes the spiders fly Into the apparitions of the sky, They purpose nothing but their ease and die Urgently beating east to sunrise and the sea;” [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem depicts spiders as symbols of fleeting, aimless movement through a decaying world. **In simple terms:** Spiders symbolize aimless drift. Key Takeaway Find purpose amid chaos. Themes mortality nature impermanence Mood melancholic reflective Type poetic literary When to use this quote - nature observation - creative writing - existential reflection Key Concepts modernist poetry symbolism Questions to Reflect On - Why do the spiders seem purposeless? - What does the wind represent? A Different Perspective May be overly abstract. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Apparitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apparitions/) [August](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/august/) [November](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/november/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Sea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sea/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Sunrise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunrise/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wind/) ## Related quotes > [I saw the spiders marching through the air, Swimming from tree to tree that mildewed day In latter August when the hay Came creaking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/i-saw-the-spiders-marching-through-the-air-swimming-from-tree-to-tree/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) > [Let us all take a moment, and be thankful that spiders can't fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-us-all-take-a-moment-and-be-thankful-that-spiders-can-t-fly/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Luck was with me. I saw no spiders. Luck was against me. I saw no specters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-carson-levine/luck-was-with-me-i-saw-no-spiders-luck-was-against-me-i-saw-no/) [Gail Carson Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-carson-levine/) > [“Those places where sadness and misery abound are favoured settings for stories of ghosts and apparitions. Calcutta has countless such stories hidden in its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/those-places-where-sadness-and-misery-abound-are-favoured-settings/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafón](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [I can call spirits from the vasty deep.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-can-call-spirits-from-the-vasty-deep/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [I came home from Portugal convinced that nothing is so important as making known what the Mother of God asked in those apparitions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-thomas-walsh/i-came-home-from-portugal-convinced-that-nothing-is-so-important-as/) William Thomas Walsh > [Everything that falls upon the eye is apparition, a sheet dropped over the world's true workings. The nerves and the brain are tricked, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/everything-that-falls-upon-the-eye-is-apparition-a-sheet-dropped-over/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [The nightmare Life-in-Death was she.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/the-nightmare-life-in-death-was-she/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet black bough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/the-apparition-of-these-faces-in-the-crowd-petals-on-a-wet-black-bough/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [It is the human condition to question one god after another, one appearance after another, or better, one apparition after another, always pursuing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-chartier/it-is-the-human-condition-to-question-one-god-after-another-one/) [Emile Chartier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-chartier/) > [In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-every-block-of-marble-i-see-a-statue-as-plain-as-though-it-stood/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Spirits when they please Can either sex assume, or both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/spirits-when-they-please-can-either-sex-assume-or-both/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [“Some of the apparitions that emerged from the shadows of doorways and alleys were incomplete, manifesting in full only as they reached the light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-sweitzer/some-of-the-apparitions-that-emerged-from-the-shadows-of-doorways-and/) C.D. Sweitzer > [The apparition of an evil, sick unconscious wild city rose before me in visible semblance, and about the dead buildings in the barren air,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-ginsberg/the-apparition-of-an-evil-sick-unconscious-wild-city-rose-before-me/) [Allen Ginsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-ginsberg/) > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. 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He had to leave in a hurry.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lowell/this-is-the-departure-strip-the-dream-road-whoever-built-it-left/) [Robert Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) [Explore all 96 Robert Lowell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lowell/) ## More Air quotes > [I will be a tireless advocate for our District's defense priorities including Sheppard Air Force Base, Pantex, Bell Helicopter, universities conducting important research, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronny-jackson/i-will-be-a-tireless-advocate-for-our-district-s-defense-priorities/) [Ronny Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronny-jackson/) > [I have lifted my plane . . . for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/i-have-lifted-my-plane-for-perhaps-a-thousand-flights-and-i-have/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [If U.S. air, naval, missile, and ground forces were not in and around Korea, and if we were not treaty-bound to fight alongside South…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-buchanan/if-u-s-air-naval-missile-and-ground-forces-were-not-in-and-around/) [Pat Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-buchanan/) > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. 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