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How does Whitman highlight small objects in "Song of Myself" and what significance might "a leaf of grass," the title of his life's work, hold for him and for you?
Quick answer:
The poem begins with the speaker comparing himself to a single blade of grass. He speaks about how his roots and his growth are similar to that of a blade of grass. The speaker also talks about that you can find him "in the long run" by looking at any small part of nature. This idea is continued as the speaker describes that he can be found in "the short and simple annals of the poor." The poem ends with a series of questions: What was that which touched me so much? Where am I really? What am I really? Why is there an ideal world in which everything seems to be faster, better and more perfect? These questions lead us to wonder if it isn't "everything"
Leaves of Grass is an ode to humanity, particularly an ode to America and its unique diversity. As the previous educator explained so beautifully, each "leaf" of grass is unique, given its own shape and size, but is rather unremarkable on its own. It is when that "leaf" becomes a part of a greater whole that it takes on a fuller shape and identity.
Whitman's decision to call his lengthy poem "Leaves of Grass" is a possible play on words. Yes, there is the allusion to the plant, to an individual "leaf," or blade, of grass. A leaf is the organ of a plant, providing it with nourishment. There is, thus, the suggestion that each of us nourishes—or, contributes something—to humanity. However, there is also the "leaf," or page, of a book. It is for you to decide what a "leaf" of grass means to you and what you think...
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it meant to Whitman, based on what he describes in the poem.
In Section 31 of "Song of Myself," Whitman remarks on the extraordinary character of aspects of life we take for granted:
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars, And the pismire [an ant] is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren...
These are the smallest things, the things we often forget to see. Whitman calls us to look at them, to see the way in which they can inspire as much wonder as the stars, for they are equally unique and intricate in their construction.
By the third line of the first stanza, he provides a list of other things that can inspire similar wonder: the tree-toad, the running blackberry, the hinge of his hand, the cow, and the mouse.
References
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 sand, individual drops of rain or flakes of snow, and human individuals. He recognized and understood the mature notion that, while each of us thinks of ourselves as a unique entity (and rightly so, since we have a “self” consciousness), we form together another entity, be it the starry night sky, the sandy beach, the vast grasslands of the prairie, the deluge of a river or ocean, the blizzard of a winter’s day. Whitman is saying “Our unique individuality is beautiful, useful, important, because together we make up the universe. We are 'leaves of grass.' In that sense we are like a star in the sky – a single manifestation of the fact of universal unity." So, in describing his own life, he is sharing with us this unity, this marvelous facticity.