Themes In Song Of Myself

“For the Sake of the Song” and “Song of Myself” share several key similarities, including a strong use of figurative language, making a connection with humanity, and both are considered romantic poems. Walt Whitman’s poetry contains much figurative language and connections between individuals and how they relate to the whole of society. Walt Whitman and Townes Van Zandt both seem pretty okay with death, as they talk about dying in their writings a lot and they both seem pretty nonchalant about it. In “For the Sake of the Song” you can find metaphor, personification, assonance, and many more forms of figurative language throughout the piece.

"Why should I pray? Why should I venerate and be ceremonious?……I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones." (pg 40)Nature and all of her wondrous facets, especially the human body, was Whitman's religion. Walt Whitman was indeed an intensely spiritual man in his own unconventional way. His epic classic "Song of Myself" demonstrates these attitudes of his, and in his view how the proverbial "poet" of his America should believe. Humanity yearns for spiritual fulfillment and Whitman believed that everything around us and even ourselves were walking testaments to what true ethereal life is.

Ok. So those are the facts. Now let's examine "Song Of Myself" and Whitman with greater detail. There are several sections in this poem that enhance our knowledge on the stand Whitman is taking toward his body and sexuality. He begins in Section 4 with a reflection on the "Real Person". Or what he views as "Real." He states, "The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love." This stanza depicts Whitman's view on sexuality and on equality. He obviously, in this stanza shows no favoritism toward either gender. He is saying that he loves both equally regardless of any differences. He

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

Whitman also describes death in a very delicate manner, which allows the reader to feel that death is in a way, good. For instance, he describes the soldiers as noisy in war, but when they die, there is silence. Silence resembles death, yet it's not a negative way of expressing it. As the poet encounters with more memories of suffering, he calls to death: "Come sweet death! be persuaded O beautiful death!/ In mercy come quickly" (lines 44-45). He believes death will alleviate the pains and that it is good. Another delicate way of describing death, and an excellent choice of words, is when he says he recalls "the experience (as) sweet and sad" (line 63) These young soldiers have so much life ahead of them and they are dying, this makes it 'sad'. Yet since they are suffering so much, it's 'sweet' that they die. In this particular poem, Whitman portrays an attitude of positive welcoming of death.

In “Song of Myself”, grass is the central image surrounding Walt Whitman’s ideology. The idea behind it is grass, in some ways, is very similar to people in society and natures lifecycles. As Whitman was “observing a spear of summer grass” (5), he began to question the human condition. One of Whitman’s first thoughts was that one individual, like a single spear of grass surrounded by more grass, is part of a large community of people. It’s impossible to differentiate from others, for all people are equal despite cultural, religious, or gender differences. Nevertheless, Whitman’s use of symbolism alludes to the idea that grass reflects the thoughts and condition of people in society.

James McPherson, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain all state and indicate the importance of freedom, independence, and individualism throughout all the excerpts. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Satirical novel, 1884, Huck exposes the flows of white society in the Antebellum south. Twain’s novel discusses racism, slavery, and hypocrisy of “civilized society” is to show how they are doing wrong to individuals. Walt Whitman's free verse poem “Song of Myself”, Leaves of Grass in 1855 illustrates when someone passes away life is reincarnated and becomes something better such as grass, air, or soil. Whitman’s purpose for composing this was to inform that death is a forturate thing and not something to fear for. James McPherson,

In section 2 of Song of Myself, the first sense Whitman utilises to create the setting is the reader’s sense of smell. “Houses and rooms are full of perfumes,… I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, … The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it." By beginning with the imagery of perfumes and fragrances, Whitman is able to bring readers past memories to the situation. The stanza brings forward the

The next significant mention on this subject is in line two of the second stanza were the sentence: “A pulse in the eternal mind ”. This shows that mortality is indeed an important issue, this however has greater connotations as it shows that he feels he has left an impression on the world which he later puts down to being English.

Poems are like snowflakes. While no two are the same, they all have common structures and themes. One prevalent theme in poetry is that of death, which is present in both “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Dickinson perceives death as a gentleman, while Frost perceives death as loneliness, which provides insight on how the time periods of the poems, the genders of the authors, and the authors’ personal experiences influence literature.

This line is an example of his use of contradiction because he also says that his soul cannot exceed the other parts of himself.

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”

In “Song of Myself” Whitman starts the poem by saying, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (3). He is saying that we all share the same biological materials and that you are no different from him than he is from him meaning that we are all equal. Whitman uses imagery to depict that everything he is made up of comes from the earth. He expresses, “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air/Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same” (6-7). Whitman states that generation of people from parents to their parents originate from the

& nbsp;Divinity, Sexuality and the Self in Whitman’s Song of Myself       Through his poetry, Whitman's "Song of Myself" makes the soul sensual and makes divine the flesh.  In Whitman's time, the dichotomy between the soul and the body had been clearly defined by centuries of Western philosophy and theology.  Today, the goodness of the soul and the badness of the flesh still remain a significant notion in contemporary thought.  Even Whitman's literary predecessor, Emerson, chose to distinctly differentiate the soul from all nature.  Whitman, however, chooses to reevaluate that relationship.

Equality, however, was the universal theme, because he emphasized that anybody’s opinion deserved the same amount of respect as his. He also stated that everyone’s death is inevitable, thus everyone is the same. It can also be said that he wanted to preserve the Earth as well, because technically the whole planet is a sacred burial ground where generations of people and other living entities have passed away.