Analysis of Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:English

Document 1

As perceived in the context of the poem the persona is defined by the “I” within it and the “You” used in the second line defines the person reading the poem. Both the persona and the reader, embark on a journey to the discovery of the persona’s knowledge about the concepts of life. The reader is first introduced to a persona engrossed to the view of the grass that resembles a spear of summer, and beckons him to engage his soul to the sight that he is given a view of. As the sections unfold the poet is driven to a self-discovery journey where he has to understand the principles and attributes that life throws on his paths. The beginning of the poet’s knowledge ensembles the question that the child asks on what grass was, as the poem proceeds the journey that the persona undertakes clarifies and manifests itself through time.

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Through the poem the persona’s image is expressed in a definitive manner, Song of Myself is inspired by Walt Whitman’s life and the poetic life that he led. His life as per the poem examines the soul within him, America and the whole universe. Through the commentaries within the poem a reader is given the ability to further focus on the various changing themes that are engrossed within it. The audience that the speaker has formulated the poem for is the reader, he tries to impart on the reader a knowledge that everything that sums up life is in a good condition. He wants them to have experiences of a safe space where bad things happen for a reason and for a specific pattern.

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Whitman has always been surrounded by a need to gather answers to the many life questions that he had. Through the poem he shares his sound thoughts on the beliefs that he had about life, the mystery and purpose that it has. Though the invitation of the soul, he wants it to have a feel of the emotions that run in his mind and the need to find absolution in the creativity he had fathomed about the principles of life. He was always definitive of the surroundings as beautiful and did not have any negativity towards the influence that life had on the various happenings. He believed that all things happened for a certain purpose, either holy or unholy all the events were following a pattern that could not be inferred or thwarted.

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