song of myself friday was my first day of class

[mjha...@crimson.ua.edu]

Matt Harris
8/23/09


Song of Myself



I believe that Walt Whitman is an extremely positive person while
telling us about such an intriguing lifestyle. The poem kept me very
engaged due the fact he used so many well written analogies. For
instance in page 30, line six through eight he says, “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.”
Also I really liked how on line 235 page 38 he asked the readers a
question, it really made me stop and think about what was happening at
this point in time. Although, I was enraged by the way he used the
word Negro instead of African American. The line says Oxen that
rattle the yoke and chain or halt in the leafy shade, what is that you
express in your eyes? On line 30 page 38 Whitman says, “The Negro
holds firmly the reins of his four horses, the block swags underneath
on its tied-over chain.” I think this line in the poem is absurd, and
in limens terms Whitman is just describing him as a slave.

I did not find him pompous but it takes a certain kind of man who can
talk about slaves in the manner that he did. For the most part I
would not say his poetic posture is absurd, but I would defiantly say
that there where some parts throughout the poem that would make me
think otherwise.