Song of My Country (Whitman)

The poems created by the American poet Walt Whitman were something truly original and progressive for his time. His ability to form abstract poetic sentences but still maintain concrete ideas created a unique style of poetry that popularized him in the middle to late 19th century. With his collection of poetry titled “Leaves of Grass”, he was able to portray his ideas that stemmed from Transcendentalism and transitioned to realism. One of his most popular works named “Song of Myself”, centers around himself as the speaker, but ultimately had an underlying theme that is meant to connect every person.

Straying away from the notion of classes and titles produced from society, his poem “Song of Myself” steers toward the self and self-realization. Originating from Transcendental ideas, he maintains that no matter what profession or class, these ideas pertain to all. The reader must realize when reading this poem that, often, Whitman’s use of the word “I” is not intended to include solely the author Walt Whitman himself, but everyone and/or anyone. In the first three lines of “Song of Myself”, he sets the tone for the whole poem, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself,/ And what I assume you shall assume,/ For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”. Using his powerful understanding and mastery of the English language he is able to convey his ideas of unity through the use of examples of science and nature. Whitman wanted the reader to step back from society and understand one’s self as the natural being you were intended to be, and to let one understand the world that they live in more fully.

Using his ability of the English language, Whitman created a collection of poems that pushed his ideas into mainstream America in a compelling and different way. As Andrew Lawson states, “Whitman famously described Leaves of Grass to Horace Traubel as ‘only a language experiment’.”.



Works Cited:

Lawson, Andrew. 'Song of Myself and the class struggle in language’. Textual Practice; Autumn2004, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p377-394, 18p. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Dec. 2009.

Kinnell, Galway. ‘Walt Whitman and Negative Capability.’. Virginia Quarterly Review; Spring2005, Vol. 81 Issue 2, p221-227, 7p, 5 bw. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Dec. 2009.