It's cool how each time you listen to the poem you understand it a bit more and in a different way.

third one is my favourite!

Well all three caught hold of the basic concept; a spider, building its web. But personally, I feel the one who got the deeper meaning was the second narrator. Through how she chose to present it by blurry lenses, she accurately grasp the concept of 'isolation' and loneliness. 'filament, filament, filament, out of itself', the other two chose to present by drawing lines coming out of the spider. Note how she presented it, through a person walking. She draws a parallel between the spider and *us*. In short, the bigger idea behind the poem was a sense of loneliness and 'lost' the poet (or persona) felt, which I believe only the second animator presented fully. I feel like she has the least credit because hers seem 'boring' at the superficial level. Sorry for this long 'essay' if you read in full, thanks for your time :)

I liked the third one best. I feel like it communicated the meaning of the poem very well via the analogy of the spider then coming back to the human soul. Or perhaps it just took me 3 times to hear the poem to get the gist of it.

Oh my god. This is the best thing I have ever seen on this channel. Poetry was never really one of my favourite things, but I know that it's because I don't always understand everything. However, these animations make me think twice about the poem, even though I'm not a native English speaker. Youngsters would love learning literature with things like this.

I like the first one, as it really expresses what the poem means to me. I think the poem is about finding stability, meaning, and a place in this vast, vacant, and dark world. We try to cling onto something with the finest thread-like hope, to give us the sense of stability, meaning, and position. The first animation forms a somewhat human-like figure in the center. Nearing the end, the 'connections' made by the webs are stronger. It really expresses how the soul, the body, seeks outwards.

I liked the third one because it looks the cutest and is something I would have done, but the second one was the most interesting because it was the only one that didn't take it so literal

The second one is in one sense the least original because it uses a series of clips on an old style camera, but its the only one who didn't take the spider part of the poem literally (not to say you should or should not its just the only one who didn't). But I think the second one is my favourite because it felt the most human, not just because it literally showed people but it felt like it was about people more than the others and seeing that sort of camera work makes it feel like home videos, or just people filming emotionally warm moments, even if they seemed mundane. Thus it made the poem feel more like a thinly veiled poem about people as it is. The others took it to literally I think, making it too abstract and just showing the most literal visuals of what is said but not what's being communicated through the words. So I think they miss the point more and possibly have less creativity because of that lack of interpretation of what the poem might be trying to say.

How interesting! Third one is my favorite.

plot twist : the viewer is the actual experimented subject

Very interesting experiment, i like the 3rd one best imo

This is fantastic. I'm so glad someone took the initiative to make this.

The second one was amazing, unique in it's own way...

In my opinion, the poem is about a painfully lonely being. The spiders threads not catching in the void are an analogy for unsuccessful attempts to reach out. I perceive the first illustration as best of the tree in not only visualizing that metaphorical connection, but also in keeping up with the pace of literary tension towards its climax. Im generally not into poetry this one got me.

You guys should definitely do more of these poem interpretations. Loved it!

Amazing work all around; bravo to all the animators and reciters!! Please, do more like these Ted-Ed

It was so emotional that it was recommended again after a few years :')

Good idea! I liked the third reciter's and the second animator's interpretation the most.

please do more of these. that was just so surreal that I searched youtube to try and find something similar to this!

Wow really cool! All three very amazingly interpreted but I would have to say the third one was my favorite

The animation of the 3rd one (the first one's animation was good, but I like the 3rd's interpretation of the poem more), + the narration from the first one (so much passion and emphasis on all the right words) = perfection

This is so great! Amazing way to present poetry!

I liked the second. All three gave the poem totally different outward aspects which I internalized very differently. The first was a personal revelation. The second a wandering trip the third a drop in the ocean. I love this video!

3rd one is my favourite. I felt like the movement of the lines really captured the freedom and flow of Whitman's poetry

First one is my favorite. I found the second very bland and uninteresting, both visually and from the speech... Third one is very nice. Edit: I just realized I watched the video and wrote the above while being watched by a spider. So meta! XD (didn't kill it btw; I like spiders)

Very nice :) I like the first interpretation very much.

Love this ... The way the mind works ... Great experiment

I love Rives, his poetry/voice is spectacular.

I feel that the interpretation of the first and third were similar, while the second one was MUCh more metaphorical.

The last one was great! I've always loved Whitman, but this video made me appreciate him and his work more.

the first interpretation never fails to make me cry :')

Isn't curious how everyone seems to prefer the third one? Have you consider: does a male voice make a difference, is it all about talent, style of artist including the medium and the intonation. Is it only cultural that we all like the same third one!?? This video open more questions than it answers

I love the third one the most. The reading tone packed a good amount of emotional intensity but not too much, leaving me wanting more.

Interesting experiment, love when different forms of Art are brought together, the result is just briliant!! Create a visual story out of words of a poem..god, i wish i was an animator myself!! :D such a creative, free work they have done, good job guys!! ♥

loving the second one..

Stunning I would love to see more like this.

I love the reading of the first one. To me it conveys a romantic individuality that makes it a different kind of powerful. It read as if the speaker were addressing the poem to someone, as if a higher being to his son, until the final few words where the speaker realizes that this tireless pursuit of looking for connection also speaks about themself and they cry: “O, my soul”

The first one was animated and read very expressively. The second one was just a lazy, disinteresting and rather vacuous entry. The third one was very creative and stylised.

The third one was closer to what I imagined hearing the poem

The last animation complemented the poem beautifully

Great video, please do more of them! :D

i just stumbled upon this video. it brings me joy and good memories- a teacher of mine showed us this same video and somehow it sparked something in me. i'm so glad it found its way back to me :')

I really liked the third one

The first one had the best speech. It was so dramatic and full of emotion compared to the other two bland ones.

God, I wish I knew who recited the first version. Her voice so strong and intense! I wish I could hear something else from her...

The third one brought tears to my eyes

The third one seems the best to me, although the other two are also great.Good job.

whitman was a revolutionary ahead of his time. glad that this was intepreted well!

I like the second one. It was different.

#2 was very nice

I really like the narration of the first one. so intense.

Wow, just wow.

Third is amasing... I want to see more works of this animator

All three interpretations are interesting and the idea is great! it seems that we, the viewers, are also reached by the filaments and we become part of the experiment. ;)

first one is my fav because he drew it with so many details. I can't understand the other two

I prefer the second one. The others are great too, but somehow the second one touched me in a different way and lead me to what I would call understanding of the poem. Great idea!

I like the second one best it has the most absorbing visuals

it is because of this guy Heisenberg was discovered

the poem is about interpretation itself. the filaments the spider launches are just different perspectives of the same subject, every individual clings to their own views and tries to make meaning out of it. we labour, suffer and experience differently than others - the different ways we see life itself to make ourselves feel morally upright and objective is just a futile attempt like the spider shooting its web out hoping to stick a landing

There are many comments which say that they like the second one least because it's lazy and boring but I believe it was the one which moved me the most. The narrator sounded so normal and daily times to times but behind that I heard a lot of pain (yeah, for me it really was like she was about to cry). I also liked that it was the one which was the least a visualisation of the poem. Maybe it was the one which understood the poem the most, which explored a real meaning in it. All the filmed pictures could try to express the message which was discovered or they could just be chosen following the feeling the person had while reading it. They could also just express any feeling, they could be chosen at random and without deepness but only emptiness. I like this unsureness, I like this mistrust, I like that it is meaningful without trying to be meaningful, and maybe the creativity and unconventionality, the braveness made me be so moved und attracted to it. Or maybe it was just one nuance in the voice, which remembered me to something, maybe it was just the mood I am in today or the feeling that a beloved and admired person would like it the most. But actually I think it doesn't matter which one is the best. This project and also the viewer's disunity shows that there is nothing like a correct interpreatation, that there are just individual meanings.

I thought the visuals and voices were a little distracting, so I looked up the poem to read it directly. The ending was a little cryptic at first, but I think I understand that the poem is saying that no matter what direction you take in life, there is no destination, only a journey, and it's up to each of us to decide how to deal with that realization.

I found this after having just created an interpretation of the same poem myself, if anyone would like to see it on my channel. I love how all the animators and narrators expressed the poem in a way that gave it a different angle. Thanks for sharing

I prefer the second over the others, because of how simple yet beautiful it is

more of these please :)

please do MORE poetic experiments PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEE

Leaves of Grass. To my Other Favorite W.W It's an Honour Working with You. Pondly G.B

the ecstatic emotion of the first one...

The 3rd one is so very accurate!

What a wonderful treat for me! Very insightful😊

The first feels like looking into the soul. The second like looking into the heart. The third like looking into the mind.

1 and 3 both have a nice aesthetic interpretation, though the narrator for 1 could ease up a bit imo; though i appreciate the effort for poetic emotion

Entrancing. I think all three did amazing work, but I must say that I absolutely loved the third animation. 💕

1:43 to 1:47 is a clip from Howtobasic. It's unmistakeable

Loved this and the poem

I enjoy more the third one, his voice was calm and positive. The first and the second one put some pressure on us ..

the last one somehow felt more impactful despite its visually simplistic style, or maybe because of it.

i love this so much, wow.

First one is my favorite. The narrator sounded really Gospel-y, and it's good for things to sound Gospel-y. And I love the art style too.

2nd entry's my choice.

Beautiful! :D

you didn't give them the same poem, poetry changes and takes on new meaning depending on who's reading it, this leads to different tempo and inflection etc. and thus the same poem read by different people may not give the same inspiration, a better test would have been to give them identical recordings, that way you'd have the added bonus of being able to play the 3 pieces side by side (by side)

Number one was definitely my favorite.

All TedEd animators are fabulous

Great idea and great video. 👏

Wow that first one was powerful.

You(the Spider) stand in the middle of the measureless darkof the unknown world, constantly trying to grasp it by the filaments (sensors) which you send out. The impressions provided by these fillaments are categorized by spheres(concepts) which can be the bridge between you and your aim.

Fantastic!

Gosh they sound like they're trying way to hard with the emotion in their voices, especially the first one, it's like she's pitifully begging

I really liked the style of the first one. The second was visually disinteresting, but I felt it was the best companion to the poem.

I loved the last one :")

I prefer number 1

Have y'all heard the choir version of this poem? This freaking beautiful

That was really cool you web slingers

This is the second time in twenty-four hours that someone has mentioned this particular poem. Synchronicity?

the last one!

I really identified with #2

3rd one hit the nail on it's head

Did they try to leave the best for last, or I'm thinking that out of confirmation bias? Because I think that the last one was the best, and I think that was intentional.

can anyone give me the artist names who read the poem in each video?

Third one is very imaginative