Individualism In Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass

Walt Whitman had a way of reaching out to all people as if speaking directly to them. He accomplishes this by displaying love and adoration for himself, for others, and for his nation. Whitman believed in the union of each individuals own mind, body, and soul. He also believed in the union of the individual with others and the union of the individual with all living things in the universe. In Song of Myself individualism is an extensive theme throughout the work. “Immortality in Whitman’s Philosophy and Art” makes the statement “His poetry sought to present the highest form of American ideals, purified of the strife that was dividing the American community” (Devardhi and Deepika). The American dream of democracy resonates throughout Whitman’s writings in conjunction with his belief that all life of every race, religion, or sex are equal. In Song of Myself section 24, Whitman is expressing his belief in self-divinity and self-love “through me the afflatus surging and surging through me the current and index.” Later in the same section Whitman makes another reference to the divinity of the

During a lecture in 1907, William James said "the philosophy which is so important in each of us is not a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly means. It is only partly got from books; it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos" (Bartlett 546) Individuality has been a prevalent theme in every type of literature for quite some time. Whether it is a character discovering his/her individuality or the author expressing his, literature is full of distinctness. The term individuality changes meaning with each person it meets. That is what makes the dynamic word so great. Throughout particular works read this

In “Song of Myself” Whitman attempts to speak on behalf of the entire American population. He tries to pull the reader into a world of many possibilities. Whitman makes a

On this verse, we can see how Whitman tries to connect to mind, body, spirit and nature. In “Song of Myself” Whitman attempted to change the meaning of American poetry. I described identity issues that pertain to him, but that the audience was able to identify with. Whitman, opened the door to

Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a vision of the American spirit, a vision of Whitman himself. It is his cry for democracy, giving each of us a voice through his poetry. Each of us has a voice and desires, and this is Whitman's representation of our voices, the voice of America. America, the great melting pot, was founded for freedom and democracy, and this poem is his way of re-instilling these lost American ideals. In this passage from "Song of Myself" Whitman speaks through his fellow man and speaks for his fellow man when his voice is not socially acceptable to be heard.

The poem “Song of Myself” expresses Walt Whitman's views about himself, celebrating his life, expressing views on school, and what he hopes, using natural expressions to express these ideas. Whitman believes that his life and how he leads it demonstrate a very calm life that can be attributed to his surroundings in the present and the past, which can be seen in the lines “I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.\ My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,\ born here

Every sentence in Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" tends to either repeat or contradict. He even says of himself, "I contradict myself" (Lauter, p. 2793). This can make Whitman's poetry a little confusing to some. In his many stanzas, definition of the soul is ambiguous and somewhat contradictory.

Whitman wrote broad stanzas and focused on the whole of America as his inspiration. His lines covered a wide range of topics and generated multiple points of view for the reader. He called his life’s work “Leaves of Grass”; stressing the

He explicitly seeks to unify all of these contrasts when, after the cataloguing first stanza in which he has mentioned so many objects, he explains, "There shall be no difference between them and the rest." Whitman perpetuates this idea in a much more fundamental and convincing way‹through his poetic rhetoric. Whitman's famous catalogues are the first step in creating this unity. By placing seemingly disparate things next to each other and by recognizing no difference other than that

Although the use of the word “varied” implies uniqueness and diversity, Whitman later writes: “Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs,” which deviates from this idea of difference and actually supports the idea of each person’s song, blending together in a unifying sense. Although there is a lack of figurative language, Whitman’s diction reinforces the idea of community and happiness, since he uses it to convey his viewpoint of the working class as integral to society, friendly, robust, and strong, as well as, he also subtly implements the integration of women in society and also uses repetition to reinforce a sense of ownership throughout the song. This idea of ownership is repeated throughout the poem and is supported when Whitman writes: “Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else.” This idea of ownership may refer to each individual holding on their own hope for a brighter future after the war seeing as though the Civil War occurred during this

Walt Whitman’s 1892 poem “Song of Myself” is an extensive selection consisting of 52 separate sections expressing Whitman’s different perspectives on different subjects concerning things such as his own inner personality, nature and the human perspective. Each, as expected, helps to reveal a part of Whitman’s psyche. In the case of Section 6 of “Song of Myself”, Whitman talks at length about the most worldly of the Earth’s creations, grass. Grass is used as a metaphor for many things throughout the section, from life to death to equality and, most importantly, the presence of the unknown, which connects back to the previous themes mentioned. Whitman establishes the theme of the unknown through his primary subject matter, thoughtful use of diction and his poetic form. Whitman helped to show what questioning and marveling at the world could do to help better an individual as they journey through the confusion that is human existence.

In his first anthology of poems entitled “Song of Myself”, Walt Whitman reveals some of his views on democracy through the use of symbolism and free verse poetry. His use of symbolism and free verse poetry creates indeterminacy, giving the reader hints rather than answers about the nature of the poem. In the sixth part of “Song of Myself”, a child asks the narrator of the poem, “What is the grass?” (Whitman). Instead of simply giving an answer, the narrator cannot make up his mind, and stumbles on how to explain the grass to the child. Through the use of specific symbolisms, Whitman, as the narrator, explicates his views while remaining under the façade of explaining grass to the child. The views Whitman conveys remain indeterminate and

Walt Whitman explores individualism by looking through all of the diversity within America and identifying that people are different and have come from many different backgrounds. However, we are all one in the same due to the connection of being American. He does this because he wants to maintain his individual “self-hood” while finding a place within America, a happy medium. The role of the individual in this piece of work Whitman states is “one of the Nation of many Nations, the smallest the same and the largest the same,” which means everyone has a different background and have all come from many places far away, but are still apart of America nonetheless. This is what brings us together. In the opening section of Song of Myself Whitman starts by saying all human beings are the same, “And what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” I believe this is Whitman’s attempt at trying to merge his own self into society, while maintaining his “self-hood.”

Walt Whitman, a civil war nurse was a self-taught poet in the 1800s. Whitman is known for using lists, anaphora, free verse, and other literary devices in his poems. In his works, he focuses on American workers, diversity, transcendent approaches to nature, and individualism. “Song of Myself,” a poem written by Whitman, explores themes of nature, sex, democracy, and spirituality. Whitman uses nature to fuel his creativity in using grass as a symbol of comparison to life by using imagery, metaphors, and analogies.

Whitman is known for being revolutionary for his use of free form verse in the nineteenth century. This style is evident throughout Song of Myself which aids in his descriptions and devices used to get his meaning across. His grouping of three lines per stanza for this section is common for the entirety of “Song of Myself”, which has variations of three line to occasionally five line stanzas. His freedom in his poem’s style and lack of rhyme scheme allow him to fully showcase his thoughts in a new way for this time period. An overall summary of the poem is Whitman’s pondering of himself and the world in behavior and personality to him being fully confident in himself with no existential crisis. For the first half of section 20, Whitman’s character of himself questions everything beyond the ownership of himself. He questions the integrity of other people’s identities and characters as well as ignoring social norms involving manners and religious behavior. The declaration of a lack of manners and questioning the church would have been scandalous to