Walt Whitman's A Child Said, What Is The Grass

counts… It’s what saves us all far was we get saved…Grass is what holds the Earth together.”

Whitman uses the grass as a metaphor to imply that all people are connected. Whitman uses the grass to represent things he cannot explicitly name. People are all different, individual, but the blades function together. Everyone is needed to make up the grass; one blade cannot stand-alone. The grass encompasses all of America, regardless of race, gender, or religion. Grass grows everywhere there is water and touches everyone. This is one of the ways Whitman seeks to appeal to everyone through language.

The image that is firstly drawn in the first stanza is that of a blade of grass amid a field and the

relating to repetition, in that it is used to emphasize, Whitman also used the literary

In stanza six of the poem "Song of Myself", by Walt Whitman, he poses the question "What is the grass?" I believe that grass is a metaphor for the cycle of life. Throughout the poem Whitman points out images that grass could represent. All of these images stem from the life and death that we come to expect in our lifetime. During your life you will experience death, it at times surrounds you, but if you look past the grief and look to the beauty you will see that it is a cycle that keeps our world in balance. The images of flags, tears, children and older people that are torn from the ones they love, but only to soon return to other lost ones are all parts of Walt Whitman's

Throughout the poem, the speaker uses first person pronouns such as “I” and “me,” and third person pronouns such as “them.” Since one pronoun is not used throughout the entire poem, some tension is created between both pronouns/groups of people. The first person pronouns refer to the Grass, whereas the third person pronouns refer to humans and the bodies of soldiers. This difference in pronouns amplifies the fact that the Grass and humans are dissimilar entities and that there is also a difference in superiority between the two. The use of first person pronouns from the point of view of the Grass makes it seem as if the Grass is the one in control, which is what it wants the reader to think. The tension with the third person pronouns makes the humans come across as inferior. If the first person pronouns came from the humans and the third person pronouns came from the Grass, then this feeling would be switched. With the way Sandburg wrote the poem, the Grass takes charge and wants the humans to leave before they make an even bigger mess so it can get cleaned up. The Grass is confident that it can clean up the mess better than the humans will.

He then considers answers like: “a flag of my disposition” (101), “the handkerchief of the lord” (102), “the produced babe of the vegetation” (105), “a uniform hieroglyphic” (106), and “the beautiful uncut hair of graves” (110). Upon further examination, it’s obvious Whitman is attempting to relate the grass to qualities of nature and life. He begins by first symbolizing grass with individuality. By saying grass is “The flag of my disposition” (101), Whitman is representing his feelings and uniqueness. Disposition is defined as qualities that make up one’s character, and the flag is a visible, external representation of that uniqueness. Next he wonders if grass could be the “handkerchief of the lord” (102), because of the admiration of this “scented gift” and the question of whose is it? Next he wonders if grass could be “a produced babe of reproduction” (105). Whitman is basically calling grass a child, or byproduct of vegetation. He proceeds to call it a “uniform hieroglyphic” (106). He is essentially comparing grass to a unity of some sort; in that it grows everywhere unprejudiced among all people. Finally, he calls grass “the beautiful uncut hair of graves” (110). He says this because he realizes that when we die, we all become a part of the earth and nourish the

Many people believe that this mimics Whitman's life. Living in a life of social separation much of the time, he still managed to succeed not only with his writing, but also in life itself. However, in line five Whitman goes on to say that he wonders how the tree could grow such joyous leaves while being alone. He himself says that he could not survive if put in the same situation. Whitman did however lead a joyous and happy life in many peoples opinion, even though he did not enjoy the social life many other had during his lifetime. His own opinion of himself not being lonely may be frayed in order to spare the image he proposes to the public in his writings. The next few lines are interesting because of the way they could possible spell out Whitman's life. In the poem, he breaks of a twig, wraps some moss around it, and takes it to he room and places it in plain view. This may parallel his life by way of his memory. The twig may represent pieces of his memory that were enjoyable to him. He then takes the twig and places it in his room signifying that he wants to be able to constantly see those fond memories. Again Whitman replies by saying he did not do this to remind him of his friends, but in reality he may have just said this to help keep a good report with his readers about his lifestyle.

Walt Whitman loved to experiment with form when it came to poetry. He used his verses to show his complete adoration of all things wild, and our role as beings in this infinitely complex and thought-provoking universe in which we exist. To say he had a bit of a “nature crush” would be an understatement – Whitman goes in to great detail of his love for the wildness and often describes his emotions in a viscerally sexual manner, using poetic devices to underline his immense feelings for environment and hammer in the imagery to readers of how majestic the world appears to him. “Romantic” poets loved the outdoors – if it wasn’t contained in four walls and a roof, they were all about it. They loved to praise the innate details that made our planet so incredible,

Whitman has a philosophical approach about religion, religion practices and the journey of the soul. He uses the imagery of nature and other every day attributes to question life beyond death, rebirth and the unison of individual and nature. He is not afraid to die and admits ".... there is really no death, /and if ever there was it led toward life" (Whitman line…. )He finds the Devine power in nature and everything around him rather that in the altar of a church, which

Walt Whitman was a renowned American poet and essayist whose literary works were extremely controversial in his lifetime. One of his most famous literary works is the collection of poetry titled Leaves of Grass. In the preface to the 1855 edition of leaves of grass, Whitman greatly shows his admiration of America. This first becomes apparent with the statement “The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem” (Whitman para. 2). By this Whitman is referring that America is the central poem and the individuals whom inhabit America as the poets. This almost seems to be a metaphor for the fact that each individual living in America,

Leaves of Grass is Walt Whitman’s life legacy and at the same time the most praised and condemned book of poetry. Although fearful of social scorn, there are several poems in Leaves of Grass that are more explicit in showing the homoerotic imagery, whereas there are several subtle – should I say “implicit” – images woven into the fabric of the book. It is not strange, then, that he created many different identities in order to remain safe. What Whitman faced in writing his poetry was the difficulty in describing and resonating manly and homosexual love. He was to find another voice of his, a rhetoric device, and his effort took two forms: simplified, and subverted word play.

By using metaphors to analogize grass with democracy, grass becomes a symbol for democracy allowing Whitman to convey his opinions on democracy by speaking bluntly about how he feels about the grass.

Whitman writes, “A child said What is the grass?” (99). Whitman answers this question in several ways. Whitman first answers this question by stating that grass, “[M]ust be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven” (101). Whitman is saying that the grass is a symbol of his beliefs. Wittman offers another answer which he states, “[I]t is the handkerchief of the Lord” (102). In this reply, Whitman is stating that the grass is portraying God. Whitman states, “Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic/And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones/ Growing among black folks as among white.” (106-108). Whitman thinks that grass is a uniformed symbol that grows anywhere no matter the person or color because he believes that nature holds no

This is another poem that links Whitman to the Romantics. The "birth of the poet" genre was of particular importance to Wordsworth, whose massive Prelude details his artistic coming-of-age in detail. Like Wordsworth, Whitman claims to take his inspiration from nature. Where Wordsworth is inspired by a wordless feeling of awe, though, Whitman finds an opportunity to anthropomorphize, and nature gives him very specific answers to his questions about overarching concepts. Nature is a tabula rasa onto which the poet can project himself. He conquers it, inscribes it. While it may become a part of him that is always present, the fact that it does so seems to be by his permission.