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Song of Myself
This is a good question. There isn't really a "hidden" meaning in the sense of something Whitman deliberately made difficult or opaque. On the other hand, "Song of Myself" was first published in...
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Song of Myself
This amazing insight from Walt Whitman is an encapsulation of his philosophy – that we are not so much individuals as “leaves of grass”; superficially we appear to be individual, unique...
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Song of Myself
By "harbor" I assume you're referring to the thoughts and feelings the poet holds within himself. If that's the case, then the main thought/idea Walt Whitman harbors in "Song of Myself" is the...
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Walt Whitman
Below, you'll find basic explanations for sections 12, 17, and 32 of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself." 12: this section describes the movements of both a butcher boy (217-18) and a group of...
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Song of Myself
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...
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Song of Myself
"I celebrate myself" is the first portion of the first line of Walt Whitman's most famous poem, "Song of Myself." It is a fitting introduction, as Whitman's sprawling verse is most seriously...
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Song of Myself
In section 46 of "Song of Myself," Walt Whitman provides extensive travel imagery: "I tramp a perpetual journey" (1202), Whitman says. "My signs are a rain-proof coat, good shoes, and a staff cut...
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Song of Myself
I think the easiest way to think about Whitman's concept of love is to say that poetry and love are the same thing. In "Song of Myself," the poem opens with Whitman's assertion that he and the...
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Song of Myself
Generally speaking, Walt Whitman's tone in this poem is celebratory and joyous. The guy is definitely happy with his station in life. He's happy to be who he is and he loves the world that he is...
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Song of Myself
Well, when Whitman says you, he means you, as in, "You there, holding the book, reading these words." That would seem to be the case, at least, for most of the poem -- when he says, "And what I...
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Song of Myself
There may be no poem that so effectively embodies the concept of "nature poetry" than this one. This well-loved poem was controversial for some time after it was first published, because it...
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Song of Myself
Much has been said about the end of "Song of Myself" here. It is true that Whitman is asserting his essential unity with everything, not just nature. From the beginning of the poem he asserts his...
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Walt Whitman
Today in America we would probably say “Blades of Grass,” but the metaphor speaks to the infinitude of things – stars, individual leaves, individual blades of grass, individual grains of...
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Song of 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...
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Song of Myself
Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a long sprawling poem in free verse that uses a narrative persona both specific in details such as age and place and mythic in its ability to incorporate the...
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Song of Myself
The first image in this section is an image that will recur through the rest of the poem: "I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass" (5). The speaker's observance of this...
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Song of Myself
There are almost countless examples of metaphor in Walt Whitman's long poem, "Song of Myself." Indeed, even if you were to narrow your options down to a single image - the central leaf of grass,...
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Song of Myself
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...
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Song of Myself
This question comes from Section 4 of "Song of Myself," where Whitman talks about the petty concerns of everyday life. The things that are "not the Me myself" are the "trippers and askers" who...
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Song of Myself
Walt Whitman has a lot of things to say about America and what it means to be American. In his poem "Song of Myself," one of the ways in which he defines what it means to be American is his...
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Song of Myself
It isn't just the problems he can and does connect with, it's all people in all situations. He moves beyond sympathy--feelings for other people--to empathy--sharing the feelings of others. It's...
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Song of Myself
"Song of Myself" is Walt Whitman's exploration of self, other, and what it means to be alive. Throughout the epic poem he addresses concepts that are both commonplace and taboo. Death is one of...
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Song of Myself
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...
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Song of Myself
When this poem was first published as the opening work in Whitman's collection Leaves of Grass, it did not have a title; Whitman later titled it "Song of Myself" in 1881. This fact is telling when...
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Song of Myself
Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" focuses upon Democratic ideals, among which are the value of the individual. Thematic of "Song of Myself" is the expression of the self and the love of nature. In...
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Song of Myself
Walt Whitman's final 1892 version of his poem "Song of Myself," published just before his passing, is an interesting mix of both realism and spirituality. As Steven G. Kellman, editor of...
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Song of Myself
"The Bather" is the most erotic of Whitman's poems; it is also of note that he does not have any poem that describes the same actions with nude women; for this reason and others, some critics feel...
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Song of Myself
In Section 31-33 of Leaves of Grass, Whitman's rambling lines resonate the vitality of a world of nature and man that is unconfined. With the use of his senses, this poet becomes confirmed in the...
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Song of Myself
I think that one of the most basic questions that can be raised out of Whitman's "Song of Myself" is whether or not there is a larger configuration that binds the individual. While the poem...
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Walt Whitman
Whitman's main literary device in Leaves of Grass (1855-87), which appears in nearly every section of the poem, is metaphor or simile, a characteristic of Whitman's poetic style. In addition,...
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Song of Myself
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...
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Song of Myself
Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass exhibits elements of Romanticism in the expression of self, the mystical unity of all human experience, and in the equality regarding the individual and the world....
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Song of Myself
It is important to remember that, in spite of the title of this collection of poems, it is more about America and Whitman's vision of what he would like it to be rather than himself. Whitman...
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Song of Myself
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...
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Song of Myself
The opening of Whitman’s lifework, “Leaves of Grass,” this poem has enjoyed popularity since the mid-nineteenth century, and holds a place in American literature equal to Moby Dick and Tom...
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Song of Myself
The aspect of the title's "song" can have reference to the music that is within poetry. As Hollander suggests, the music of poetry can be a direct reference to the effect that it has on the...
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Song of Myself
The Romantic elements present in Whitman's "Song of Myself" are an essential part of its understanding. Whitman wishes to present himself as a part of the beauty of the world. This sense of...
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Walt Whitman
One suggestion based upon the theme in "A Noiseless Patient Spider"--which you will need to correlate to the other poems you are using to see if the ideas replicate or are applicable only to...
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Song of Myself
The line represents what Whitman feels about the branches of study that rely heavily upon facts and data driven reality to construct consciousness. Whitman precedes the line with discussion of...
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Song of Myself
In this section of this amazing poem Whitman expands on his philosophy of what it means to live a fulfilling life. He paints a picture of himself as a restless wanderer, always eager for new...
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Song of Myself
This beautiful passage continues Whitman’s “Song of Myself” as he associates his essence with Nature’s and Civilization’s rhythms, especially concentrating on the sounds of Nature (the...
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Song of Myself
Whitman compares himself to the hawk, and describes his “Song of Myself” as a “barbaric Yawp” (a meaningless sound, a crying out that only signifies that he is alive, with no “meaning”...
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Song of Myself
This poetic technique, called listing, seeks to inundate the reader with concrete examples of the same abstract idea, almost exhausting the possibilities, in this case the speaker’s (Whitman’s)...
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Song of Myself
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...
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Song of Myself
After listing a few dozen of the individual events that happen to people every day (“the pulling and hauling”), Whitman says “The events of the day are not Me—they come and go; they are...
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Song of Myself
Whitman's contribution to poetry was not only stylistic--eschewing rhyme and meter--but personal as well. Rather than hiding behind a first-person personal narrator a la the Romantics, or...
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Song of Myself
In this passage of Song of Myself, Whitman is speaking out about the (in his eyes mistaken) tendency of the human mind to measure, to compare, to contest, to make a combat of everything, to...
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Song of Myself
It is always important to consider quotes that are taken from a text in the context of the text as a whole, and this quote is no exception. This quote actually comes from Section 3 of his...
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Song of Myself
In the opening lines of this epic poem, Whitman is declaring his intentions (cf. Virgil’s “Of arms and the man I sing”)—he is going to “sing” this poetic song of himself for the rest of...
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Song of Myself
Any question that is asking about "transcendental identity" is asking you to explore the ideas of transcendentalism in a specific poem. In this case, the poem "Song of Myself" is the subject of...