Song of Myself Essay Sample
Written in 1881 by Walt Whitman. “Song of Myself” . is known to “represent the nucleus of Whitman’s poetic vision” ( Greenspan ) . To many people. this verse form is confounding and complex because of the pun and symbolism. This verse form “requires a big position ; you must non acquire your face excessively near the book. You must convey to it a munificence of jet. a charity and faith equal to its ain. ” ( Burroughs ) Whitman starts out by presenting the topic the verse form. himself. and continues to observe this subject. He uses footings such as “I” . “myself” and his interior psyche to make a sense of being and description in certain parts of the verse form. Although the chief subject seems to be himself. himself is really a symbol for the American humanity as whole. Whitman believes that everyone. even animate beings. portion each other’s experiences. For him. there is no individual individual that stands entirely with their ain ideas and feelings. “No individual individual is the topic of Whitman’s vocal. or can be ; the single suggests a group. and the group a battalion. each a unit of which is every bit interesting as every other unit. and possesses equal claims to recognition. Hence the repeating inclination of his verse form to go catalogues of individual and things” ( qtd. in Mason ) Overall. he believes that everything and everyone portions an apprehension and connexion. Throughout “Song of Myself” . Walt Whitman connects himself with others by utilizing his ain individuality as a symbol for the American people. doing everyone equal in every sense of their being. and the signifier of friendly relationship.
One manner Whitman connects himself to others is by utilizing footings associated with his ain personal individuality as a symbolic representation for the American people. One term used for this construct is the term “I” . At first glimpse. many assume that “I” is Whitman himself. but “I” is mentioning to everyone in America. For illustration. in stanza one. Whitman writes “I celebrate myself. and sing myself. / And what I assume you shall presume. / For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. ” ( Whitman ) Whitman starts out this stanza by “I” so transitions into the word “you” . depicting that he is non entirely in his jubilation and ideas. Besides by saying that “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” ( Whitman ) . he is stressing that there is a greater entity of the human race that he is connected excessively. Another stanza where he emphasizes the term “I” as connexion to society is in stanza
fifty-one. “I am big. I contain multitudes” ( Whitman ) . In this stanza. he is indicating out that there are many different facets and factors in America as a whole.
Another term Whitman used to do a connexion to the American people was the word “myself” . The first clip people see the word “myself” in this verse form is in the rubric. My doing the rubric “Song of Myself” . alternatively of “Song of Walt Whitman” . it focuses on Whitman’s theory that everything is connected to everything. Although he uses the term “myself” in the rubric. he besides uses in throughout the verse form. For illustration. in stanza two. Whitman writes how he “determines to maintain free of the influence of the other single egos. symbolized as “perfumes” and “frequencies”” ( Cooke ) by utilizing the term “myself” to stand for integrity. “Houses and suites are full of aromas. the shelves are crowded with aromas. / I breathe the aroma myself and cognize it and like it. / The distillment would elate me besides. but I shall non allow it. ( Whitman ) . Another illustration of utilizing the term “myself” to place with other is in stanza seven. “I am the mate and comrade of people. all merely as immortal and/ fathomless as myself. ” ( Whitman ) . In this stanza. he transitions from the word “I” to “myself” to “escape from the person to the universal” ( Cooke ) . The character of the interior psyche is besides another self-identity term that Whitman uses to link with others.
For illustration. in stanza five. Whitman uses the word psyche as a whole different individual than himself. “I believe in you my psyche. the other I am must non humiliate itself to you. / And you must non be abased to the other. ” ( Whitman ) In this stanza. he connects to others by stand foring them as the psyche and is seting out the message “do on to others. as you would desire to be done to you” . Another illustration of utilizing the interior psyche for connexion is in stanza 21. “I am the poet of the Body and I am the Poet of the Soul. / The pleasances of Edens are with me and the strivings of snake pit are with me. ” ( Whitman ) . A important portion of this line is the capitalisation. The capitalisation in the word organic structure and soul represent that Whitman is doing them out to be two different people. Besides by doing them two different existences. he is stating that non merely has he experienced pleasances and strivings of his ain experiences but others excessively. Overall. the self-identity footings. such as “I” . “myself” . and the being of the interior psyche. function as a representation of “unity through diversity” ( Mason ) . Harmonizing to a bookman named Alice Cook. “The cardinal to the apprehension of this verse form is the construct of ego as both single and universal” ( Cooke ) .
Another manner Walt Whitman connects and identifies himself with everyone is by doing everyone equal. During the clip period Whitman was brought up in. equality was scarce. He did non hold the same beliefs as most people though. he believed that everyone is alone and should take pride in themselves. A bookman named David S. Reynolds believed that Whitman “presumed interracial harmony” and wanted to “represent national fate as a aggregation of individuals” ( Reynolds ) . “Whitman averages up the race. but the whole push and emphasis of his work is to raise the average” ( Burroughs ) . A stanza where Whitman equals himself with others is in stanza 20. In this stanza. Whitman states that “In all people I see myself. none more and non one a barley-corn lupus erythematosus. / And the good or bad I say of myself I say to them. ” ( Whitman ) . No affair the virtuousness of the individual. Whitman sees a contemplation of himself in each individual. Whitman besides equalizes everyone in stanza 21. He says. “I am the poet of the adult females the same as the adult male. / And I say it is every bit great to be a adult females as to be a adult male. / And I say there is nil greater than the female parent of work forces. ” ( Whitman ) In these lines. Whitman is “lifting things out of a corner. out of a category. and demoing it its cosmopolitan relationship” ( Burroughs ) . Not merely is Whitman bing himself with the common adult male or adult females. he is besides equalising himself with animate beings.
“I think I could turn and populate with the animate beings. they are so quiet and/ self-contain’d. / I stand and look at them long and long…Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole Earth. / So. they show their relation to me and I accept them. / They bring me tokens of myself. they evince them obviously in their ownership. ” ( Whitman ) In this stanza. Whitman is proposing that animate beings live in a relaxed and Utopian universe. He is equalising himself with animate beings by comparing their lives and positions of the universe. Society. as a whole. strives to populate an easy. yet meaningful life. like the animate beings. Throughout “Song of Myself” . Whitman “photographs proslavery types and puts them on exhibition” ( Reynolds ) Therefore by sing everyone as an equal. Whitman connects to the societally image of America’s “aspiration for civilization and refinement” ( Burroughs ) .
Finally. Whitman connects to the American civilisation by the thought of friendly relationship. Throughout “Song of Myself” . Whitman uses a friendly and ask foring tone. He seems eager to go close and aid everyone he meets. In stanza 40. Whitman uses a nondiscriminatory tone in an effort to be a shoulder to tilt on and a defender. “Man or adult female. I might state how I like you. but can non …I do non inquire who you are. that is non of import to me. / You can make nil and be nil but what I will infold you…Sleep-I and they keep guard all dark. / Not doubt non die shall make bold to put finger upon you. / I have embraced you. and henceforth posses you to myself” ( Whitman ) . In this stanza. he is disregarding what the general public thinks of the alien in this verse form and is throwing out a helpful manus to them. Another stanza where Whitman portrays friendly relationship in a non judgmental tone is in stanza 19. “This is the repast every bit set. this is the repast for the natural hungriness. / It is for the wicked merely the same as the righteous. I make appointments/ with all. / I will non hold a individual individual slighted or left away. ” By analysing this stanza. it is believed that Whitman is seeking to link to others by the gesture of a friendly dinner invitation. He is ask foring people irrespective of colour. entreaty. or position.
In this stanza. he continues to depict the differences of his invitees so remarks that “there shall be no difference between them and the remainder. ” ( Whitman ) . Besides in this stanza. he makes another friendly connexion by stating the topic of this poem secrets he would non discourse with others. “This hr I tell things in assurance. / I might non state everybody. but I will state you. ” ( Whitman ) As stated before. Whitman develops an apprehension with animate beings and in stanza 32 he makes a friendly connexion with one. “Picking out here one that I love. and now go with him in brotherly footings. / A mammoth beauty of a entire. fresh and antiphonal to my caresses” ( Whitman ) By showing his feelings with the word “love” and “brotherly” and fondling the entire. it shows that Whitman is making a true bond with this Equus caballus. In decision. Whitman is “the poet of democracy” ( Burroughs ) ; and in order to organize a echt democracy. one most set up bonds with everything and everyone.
Throughout “Song of Myself” . Whitman doubtless becomes the people ( Burroughs ) . By utilizing the footings “I” . “myself” . and “soul” to mention to others. equalising the facets of every being. and organizing bonds. Walt Whitman builds connexions with the “common humanity” ( Burroughs ) . “The lesson of this verse form in non simply on in the philanthropic gift or benevolence. it is one in practical democracy. in the value and sacredness of the common. the close. the universal ; it is that the quality of common humanity. ” ( Burroughs ) This verse form. is to demo the American people the quality of each and single American individual. Whitman has so many beliefs that would make the “American dream” society is looking for. Some of these sentiments being. everyone is equal and everyone has an apprehension and connexion with one another. As a consequence of these positions. “Song of Myself” is described as “a sort of fantastic filtration system. absorbing all the disturbing. barbarous facets of American Life and creatively uniting them with other more positive ones” ( Reynolds ) In amount. Walt Whitman’s beliefs about humanity are voiced through the verse form. “Song of Myself” . and as a consequence of these sentiments. he makes a connexion with the American people to make a better life. “Whitman would non be the headmaster of the people. he would be their prophesier and savior” ( Burroughs )
Work Cited:
Burroughs. John. “The Poet of Democracy” . Pp. 532-540 The North American Review. Vol. 154. No. 426. May. 1892
Cooke. Alice L. Modern Language Notes. Vol. 65. No. 4 Apr. . 1950. Pp. 228-232
Greenspan. Ezra. erectile dysfunction. Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” : A Sourcebook and Critical Edition. New York: Routledge. 2005. Print.
Loving. Jerome. “The Journal of American History” . Pg 663-664. Organization of American Historians. Sept. 2000.
Mason. John B. “Walt Whitman’s Cataloques: Rhetorical Meanss for Two journeys in “Song of Myself” American Literature. Vol. 45. No. 1 ( Mar. . 1973 ) . pp. 34-49
Reynolds. David S. “Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography” . Pp. 29-32 Archivess of American Art Journal. Vol. 34. No. 3. 1994
