Song of Myself

[mikecb122]

I think that whitman is very easily misunderstood of confused as a
poet that is self serving or somewhat arrogant in his writings. But,
if one reads deeper into his writings, it is evident that he is often
times not referring to just himself. For example, he says in section
20 “in all people I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn
less/and the good or bad I say of myself I say of them”, this is just
one example of how Whitman sees everyone as being equals. I also
enjoyed how Whitman "went outside the box" so to speak in this poem to
portray his feelings in different arenas of life. He used his own
freelance style to complete this epic poem. I also enjoyed how Whitman
used something as simple as a blade of grass to portray the meaning of
deeper issues in life. He says that grass is a common link of all
Americans, a true symbol of democracy. He also says that grass reminds
him of dead Civil War soldiers, meaning that is covers their graves
and is a symbol of how everything eventually dies.In section 11, the "
twenty-ninth bather" Whitman emphasizes humans needs for contact with
one another. He describes a scene where a woman watches as thenty
eight men bathe in the ocean and longs to join them. Some people,
espically at the time this poem was written, would see this as being
lavish or overly erotic. I tend to think that Whitman was ahead of his
time and had a understanding of human emotion that was far before his
time. Overall, "Song of Myself" was very deep and thoughtful and a joy
to read.