Song of Myself stands out to me because it separates Whitmans personality into different parts, or different "multitudes" as he refers to it. The poem celebrates being an individual and Whitman discusses each part of his character that he envisions with different describing characteristics.
The poem begins with the opening line of "I celebrate myself." That gives the base for what the entirety of the poem is going to be built upon. He goes on to jump between each multitude he has created for himself by using lines which suggest he is watching himself from another point of view. It seems Whitman has difficulty understanding his own true personality. Most of the time, poems give a window to the authors soul. But this poem makes it difficult to understand Whitman as a person, but who knows, he might've done that on purpose.
Song of Myself directly connects to Emersons Nature due to the strong, intense connection to nature. In Song of Myself, Whitman describes himself as a part of our surrounding world and becoming one with nature. Both of these works describe that intense desire to harmonize with nature.
Why does everyone think Whitman chose to write Song of Myself the way he did? What do the different points of view offer to the reader and how did it affect the way you read his poem?
I agree that Song of Myself is separated into different parts, but after some research, it became apparent that there are three separate sections. First is when the child asks "What is the grass"? and Whitman attempts to answer this. He says it may be a gift from the lord, the 'child' of Earth's vegetation, or a common medium between black man and white man. The second section is defined as the point at which the twenty eight bathers by the shore, including the invisible twenty-ninth bather and the invisible eyeball. The third and last section begins when Whitman says "Speech is the twin of my vision".
ReplyDeleteI think he chose to write Song of Myself in this way because it speaks so directly to the reader, it is very 'in your face'. It makes you want to read more, to find out what exactly he is celebrating. At first, I thought the tone was arrogant; him assuming we will want to read past the first line. However by the third line, he has directly addressed the reader, and we want to know more about his celebration of himself, and us. Once he addresses us (the reader) I was more inclined to go on the journey thru this piece. It was easier to try to visualize nature thru his eyes since he wrote it the way he did.
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