Poetic Tools Describe Life in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself Essay

In the poem “Song of Myself” Whitman presents the idea that regardless of particular religion, a higher power resides within every living thing and that the knowledge of ourselves and the living things around us gives us a transcendent power beyond our world. On the “Song of Myself” poem Whitman presents the believe that every living organism in the universe possesses a spirit. Additionally, Whitman acknowledges the need for a spiritual relationship between a person and a higher spiritual power. For Whitman, life was and endless journey. The following quote captures some of the Transcendental elements used by Walt Whitman on the “Song of Myself”

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.”

The creation of an acceptable persona is essential to Whitman's poetic program. In "Song of Myself" this is

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

Also included in the poem is the image of a young child being embraced by their elders. This shows the gap in life and the aging process that we go through. When we are young we are carefree, but as we age we hold on to the ones we love because of the knowledge that we will one day have to make our departure. Out of this idea of death, Whitman shows that this is a natural part of life and

In the 19th century there were many important subsequent events going on but , one of the ones that stood out the most was the Individualism in society. Many Americans in the 19th century defined themselves as individuals. Americans would claim to be strong and confident about themselves. People in America made sacrifices to be able to find their happiness and be comfortable with their lives at home with their family. People in the 19th century would rebel against anything so that they can be themselves. Many americans in the 1800’s would want to do anything to have their own individualism.

The medicine of conformity changes into poison as time passes. Pain is alleviated as the conformist follows the path that has been carved for him rather than designing one of his own. However, the relief is temporary as the benefiter turns into a prisoner of standards and can no longer live as he pleases. Transcendentalism was a movement that celebrated the self and emphasized living life rather than structuring it. One transcendentalist, Walt Whitman, builds the theme of individualism in “Song of Myself” by using free verse, symbolism, and rhythm.

& nbsp ; The mechanism of this integration may be one of a number of possibilities included in Whitman's work.  Whitman's notion that "All truths wait in all things" very broadly defines the scope of his desire to distill truth from his surroundings.  He indicates that "...all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers," suggesting that perhaps sensual understanding of the interconnectedness of man bridges the spiritual to the corporal.  Within the context of the passage, the cause/effect relationship between sensual contact and transcendent understanding becomes clear.  His declaration that "I believe in the flesh and the appetites, Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles" reinforces the concept that truth is directly

In Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, the concept of self is one of the most momentous aspect and theme of the poem. Whitman believes the self is a spiritual entity that is comprised of experiences, ideas, and insights during and beyond the conscious life. He is able to see through not only his own self, but the selves of many others because the self is not only individual but universal as well.

Imagery is present throughout Walt Whitman’s Song Of Myself (-----). Whitman is able to draw the reader into the text and ground the abstract ideas back to the readers by appealing to a range of senses. Whitman also uses visual, tactile, auditory and olfactory to imagery give a sense of reality to the setting.

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. In this poem, the speaker Walt Whitman talks about his connection to nature and how everything is connected to nature. He speaks as if what he says is a new or unheard language. Mr. Whitman believe that he is not tamed from himself and that he has transcended the notion. By that he means he have created a new language that is foreign to others since they have never heard of it. Around this time many poets were becoming more expressive and open. Walt Whitman motivated many artists that would have been considered “weird” during the time to become more open.

Title- The song of myself sounds like a poem of self expression, and a gospel of Walt Whitman's’ self beliefs. When his optimistic outlook on life is brought into perspective, one could also conclude that the poem was about his positive and radical outlook on life, because it is a song of himself, his personal expression.

Whitman begins by creating a contradictory image of himself. On one hand he relays an egotistical representation by alluding that he is the center of the universe, "a kosmos, of Manhattan the son," almost a deistic type of character. Whitman also describes himself as not being above any one person, woman or man, an obvious contradiction to his previous representation. His God-like persona is depicted in human terms, physical qualities that all humans possess. Whitman creates this contradiction to show his belief that he is everything, but is only this way because everything is a part of him. He represents himself as part of a whole&emdash;nature, mankind, and the universe are all a part of him. By being everything in nature and nature being a part of him, Whitman has the power to become the voice of nature as a whole. He speaks for nature and mankind when they do not possess the power to do so. Whitman is the voice of all.

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

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.