Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of myself” touches on many points that may not be obvious to all readers. One of these points is the concept of death, and surviving through a material object. Whitman describes death as the “bitter hug of mortality.” This shows how he accepts death as the end of his conscious being, and his time in the living world. David Lehman argues in his article that Whitman was actually creating a piece of work that he could live through after his death when writing “Leaves of Grass.” Lehman argues that we can see how Whitman tried to achieve this by looking at his writing style. You can see in his poems that he ends without actually having an ending, what Lehman refers to as “stopping short.” The conclusion drawn is that it will continue in another time, possibly after Whitman’s death even. This point is further proven when Whitman actually states that “I do not talk of the beginning or the end” (24).
Throughout “Song of myself” there are many references to death. In part 6 Whitman states that “to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier” (28). In this quote you can see Whitman’s understanding of death, and that he thinks of it in a different way than most. He even goes to compare being born “just as lucky as to die.” Through these quotes we can see that he does not consider death an end, but a beginning to a new period in his life cycle. Throughout “song of myself” we can see how Whitman is trying to make sense of death in a way that it is not something to be feared by people. He believes that he is there temporarily, to “come and depart” and then reappear in another form at another time (30).
Works Cited
Lehman, David "The Visionary Walt Whitman." American Poetry Review 37.1 (2008): 11-13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. New York: Bantam Dell, 2004
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is a very grim connotation of Song of myself. though it is undenaiable that it can have that connotation. But is death a true end. I put it to you that Walt Whitman is very much alive in his works because he is remembered through them.
ReplyDeleteTrue it may be a grim connotation, but there is no denying it is there. Dibs is not saying that death is a true end according to Whitman, just another part of the cycle. Ideas and experiences live on, just the people change.
ReplyDeleteI agree with (O_o), i believe that Whitman believed that dead was part of the cycle, but that there are many parts to that cycle. people go through many different events that can change the way they see things, but there is always an end to our lives, even if people do remember us; we then just get to live in people's minds but not as a person anymore.
ReplyDeleteSong of myself does have a fairly grim side when you look only at that it involves death in some points, but I do not believe that death itself is what he was fascinated with and wrote so much about. Instead it was a way for him to create a piece of himself to live through past his death. To survive in future generations in a different form.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Song of Myself does have many spots that portrays death. I also do not believe he was fascinated with death, but considering his style of writing and creating that sense of imagery that we discussed in class whitman is somewhat obligated to include all elements in the cycle of life.
ReplyDelete