Song of Myself

Walt Whitman talks about the atoms that make up his tongue and his blood coming from the soil because they literally do. It's comparable to the more modern quote by astronomer and astrophysicist...

A lover of humanity, Walt Whitman feels that he is a part of everyone else as well as a part of Nature. So, when he writes "I celebrate myself," Whitman implies that he celebrates all mankind. Much...

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes. In this first example of a metaphor, the "perfumes" represent memories. Indeed, it is often said that the sense of...

In this section, Whitman expresses a unity and comraderie with everyone else on the planet; he feels connected to them, at one with them, and as much a part of them as they are of him. He...

Whitman's observation that the grass may be "the flag of my disposition" is given in response to a child asking him what grass is. He freely observes that he does "not know what it is any more than...

The free-verse poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman is considered one of the greatest works of American literature. It was first published in 1855 as part of Whitman's collection Leaves of Grass....

To understand the line "Nature without check with original energy" in "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, it is important to perceive the speaker's intention in the poem. "Song of Myself" is a...

In Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," there are many aspects to ponder, but the one that strikes me is that of universality. Whitman notes that he is one with nature, one with all the men and women...

Three figures of speech related to grass in "Song of Myself" are as follows: It must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven. In the quote above, Whitman uses a metaphor...

With section 52, Whitman ends his long poem Song of Myself—a poem that seems to encompass both eons and universes. How can such a poem end? Only with the same exuberant flourish that has sustained...

In verse 52 of "Song of Myself," Whitman first sees the spotted hawk as an "other," standing outside of himself: The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my...

In Section 6 of "Song of Myself" Whitman uses the imagery of grass to explore the theme of death and rebirth. The child asks the speaker what seems like a fairly simple question: "What is grass?"...

Many elements of Romanticism appear in Whitman's poem. Romantics celebrated nature as a spiritual force, exalted the common person, wrote in everyday language, and wanted to express deep emotion...

As a Transcendentalist writer, Walt Whitman believed in the idea (akin to the Unitarian belief today) that God, nature, and humans are all connected. "Song of Myself," as a long poem comprised of...

This passage from the second stanza of "Song of Myself" introduces a vitally important theme in this incredible poem, in which the speaker urges his audience to not accept experience that has...

Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is an interesting work because it was completed over such a long period of time and revised based on Whitman's changes in life, experience, and thinking, though the...

Discussing individualism in Song of Myself can be tricky. While the title would suggest this an autobiographical work about Whitman—and on one level it is—the "I" of the poem is, nevertheless, most...

"Song of Myself" captures numerous qualities that we find in realist literature:Verisimilitude: Realist writers want to present as close a portrait of truth as is possible. Whitman takes this one...

Section 16 starts with contradictions. He states he is one thing, but also the opposite of that thing: "Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man" (l.3). Whitman is saying...

In the final stanza of this section, Whitman writes that: What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me,Me going in for my chance, spending for vast returns,Adorning myself to bestow myself...

In Part 16 of "Song of Myself," Walt Whitman lists a number of paradoxes. All of them can be used to illuminate Whitman's thematic concerns, which are part and parcel of Whitman's...

Whitman talks about the great extent of his imagination: "I skirt sierras, my palms cover continents, I am afoot with my vision." Lots of power exists within this imagination. It seems to have...

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. (1332-3) Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is wild poem reveling in the exploration of the...

In Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," section 51, lines 3–5 read: Listener up there! what have you to confide to me? Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening, (Talk honestly, no one else...

The encounter with the runaway works to show that the narrator identifies with this man just as he earlier identified with nature, with the clam-diggers and with the marriage party. The "self" in...

You are referring to the skipper who rescues passengers off the drifting wreck of a steamship. The skipper is portrayed as a courageous hero: I understand the large hearts of heroes,The courage of...

This poem is a bit odd in that the speaker of the poem is Walt Whitman. Section 24 has Whitman name dropping himself, so the speaker is Whitman or the persona that Whitman is creating for himself...

Whitman draws on the tradition of epic poetry, beginning with a declaration in which he seems to depict himself as his own muse (the poem is called the "song of myself," after all) rather than...

The speaker's attitude in Whitman's famous poem toward nature is that of reverence and adoration. The entirety of the poem is spent cherishing the wonder that nature brings, placing the speaker in...

Part 11 of this poem concerns a "lonesome" woman who is, at twenty-eight years of age, the owner of a "fine house" which overlooks the shore where twenty-eight young men are bathing. The woman's...

As your question already acknowledges, Walt Whitman's epic poem "Song of Myself" is brimming with contradictions. The quote you cite shows that Whitman held many beliefs and thoughts. When a person...

In "Song of Myself," Walt Whitman seeks to overcome two traditional beliefs: first, that the body and soul are separate, and second, that the soul is greater than the body. In Christian doctrine,...

Another aspect of sentence fluency that can create a gentle or peaceful cadence is consonance. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within words. Take a look at the first stanza of the...

Whitman and his American literary brethren arose in response to the hidebound, constrictive, and myopic culture of the Old World. The oppressive weight of the trappings of European culture and its...

Generally, Whitman is identified as projecting a specifically American persona, here and throughout his oeuvre, because of his "individualism." Though this is a valid perception, it's also...

In Section 10 of Song of Myself, there is the idea of acceptance of all that the poet observes in nature and those who live in accompaniment with him. There is no moral judgment placed upon those...

The first half talks about his travels; he lists different experiences he has had. The first is going out hunting, "wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee" as he does. It is obvious that...

Like the other response states, the almost infinite scenes Whitman describes in section 33 of this poem are not individually significant. However, each is part of a unified whole. Whitman is trying...

The last line of this section refers to "nature without check with original energy." If you are familiar with other American poets of the nineteenth century, you may recognize this trend toward a...

About halfway through section 6 of "Song of Myself," Whitman writes that the grass, clutched by a child, could be "itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation." Here Whitman implies that,...

In section 31 of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," the poet marvels at life. He looks through the eyes of wonder, recognizing the miracle in a “leaf of grass” that is as beautiful and intricate as...

In this section, Whitman speaks directly to his soul, instructing it, saying that no other part of himself should "abase itself to you," this part of his soul, and that this part of his soul "must...

This section of Whitman's poem is filled with sensory writing; imagery is the most predominant poetic technique found throughout. Many of the visual images are those of nature: "Where the panther...

Whitman's diction is poetic and free. His line that begins "I sound my barbaric yawp" celebrates his own power and freedom and liberates him from both poetic and societal conventions. His poetry is...

In Whitman's "Song of Myself," one should know each of the devices listed so as to rule out the incorrect answers, especially if choices seem similar, or a response does not immediately come to...

“Song of Myself” is a poem by Walt Whitman. It was first published in 1855. It is an exploration and celebration of oneself as a person, which is why the poet chose to write it from the perspective...