The poem “Song of Myself”

Answer

The poem “Song of Myself” is a transformation of a title-less poem into various headings and finally to its current title.  Starting from the 1855 to 1860, the first title was Leaves of Grass; later in 1856, the title was changed to “A Poem of Walt Whitman an American”, then in 1860, it was shortened to “Walt Whitman,” which finally culminated into a“Song of Myself” in 1881. It could be that the poem grew in stages to warrant the change of titles. Noer suggests that change of title of a piece of literary work can imply various things including the desire to change the audience’s attitude towards the work, change in the intended meaning, of content or an additional content which may or may not deviate from the original theme (Noer. 35). The poet, Whitman is believed to have added content even as the title of the poem changed with time. The poet merges himself to the universal self while at the same time maintaining his individuality. This assignment critically analyses the poem, in terms of various aspects such as themes, language, literary elements as well as literary techniques.

Structure

Structure of a poem focuses on how it is written in terms of length of stanzas, length of the poem itself, literary styles such as syllables, rhymes, alliterations and onomatopoeia among others (Myers, and Simms 41). “A song of Myself” is a very long piece of work, spanning into about 70 pages with hundreds of lines. It is subdivided into 52 sections, with varying number and lengths of stanzas and lines. There are neither regular rhymes nor meter in the poem. Therefore, “Song of Myself” has no specific structure and consequently categorized as an irregular or free verse poem. There is no regular pattern of line lengths, stanza lengths or rhymes. It is open as the author does not adhere to any strict pattern of form and structure. In section one, the first stanza is three lines, the second stanza is two lines, while the third and fourth stanzas are four lines each. In some other sections, there are stanzas with only one line and other stanzas with more than ten lines for instance; section 10 has two stanzas 2 and 3 with only one line each and at the same time the last stanza has 10 lines. The pattern of irregularity is also evident in the lengths of lines. While some lines are as short as four words for example, the last line of the last stanza of section 14, “Scattering it freely forever”, and last line of last stanza of section 21, “O unspeakable passionate love”, other lines are as long as more than fifteen words for example, last line of first stanza of section 18 has sixteen words and last line of stanza three of section 19 has nineteen words (Whitman). Lastly, the irregularity is observable in the lengths of the sections. Some sections are longer than others for example, section 17 has only two short stanzas while section 24 has sixteen stanzas. It is therefore only possible that the poem in an irregular, open verse poem.

Themes

A theme is the main message contained in a piece of literary work.  Theme is normally the summary of the main ideas in a literary work (Myers, and Simms pg. 41). In “Song of Myself”, several themes are outstanding. They include:

Self

Whiteman present self as a spiritual entity which is relatively unchanging however many things may change around it. Ideas and the experiences which form part of the conscious life of the spiritual entity may change but the self remains relatively permanent. Whitman’s mind and art are significantly focused on the concept of self. In his mind, Whitman conceives self as both individual and universal (Davis at al., ). Human being generally poses individual self with his world or the cosmos around his living has a cosmic and universal self. In his attempt to merge individual self and cosmic self, Whitman expresses his desire to maintain the identity of the individual self. It proves yet difficult to isolate individual self from the universal self because individual self needs fellow mankind, God, as well as the physical nature like the grass, stones, and ants (Henry 477). Consequently, although the poet develops a sense of brotherly coexistence with other mankind and God, he emphasizes the distinctiveness of individuality.

While in his endeavors to celebrate self, he mingles the individual self and the universe like the two shared common attributes. For instance, the poet loafs on the grass from which he invites his self to appear. He further relates that he was created from the soil and air in Section 1, stanza 3 (Whitman,). He also notes that his parents, grandparents and great grandparents were also born there. By claiming that he will let “nature speaks without check with original energy”, the poet recognizes the individuality of the universe. Further in Section 2, the poet distinguishes individual self from universal self when he mentions “Houses and rooms are full of perfume” in line 1, of first stanza 1 and “The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of distillation, it is odorless” (Whitman). The perfume represents another individuals self while the atmosphere represents the universal self. The two are distinct from each other but the poet relates well with both to emphasize his desire for brotherhood and peaceful coexistence with other selves apart from him.

Self-Identification

The poet also dwells on identification of self with specific and unique attributes for every self. First, the word identity itself appears severally in the poem. Secondly, the poet considers his identity splits into three: First, he focuses on the everyday personality, the more inner “self”, what he infers to in “me Myself’, and the universal “soul”. Consequently, he has a diverse identity, one which experiences the pains and pleasures of everyone in the world, the animals and the inanimate physical world. He for instance, identifies himself with enjoyments of what he senses from other selves. He enjoys the things he tastes, sees, hears, smells ad touches (Bohan,). Additionally, he enjoys his self by mentioning “My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs” in line 3, stanza 3 section 2, “The sound of the belch’d words of my voice losses to the eddies of the wind” in line 5, of  stanza 3, section2, “The feeling of health, …….., the song of me rising from bed …..” in the last line of  stanza 3, section 2). The poet goes ahead with his ecstatic revelation of union with his soul as well as the feeling of fraternity and oneness with God and his fellow men. He says, “And I know that the hand of god is the promises of my own” in Section five, line two of stanza four, “And I know the spirit of God is the brother of my own” in Section 5, line three of stanza four) (Whitman). Consequently he is peaceful at heart because he draws comfort from the thought that the Spirit of god is with him.

Relationships with Nature

The poet numerously associates himself with the self of the universe in what appears to be a close inseparable association. The poet dwells on the beauty of Nature and it is connected to the wellness of human beings (Roy 73). For instance, in section 6, the poet guesses about the things grass and Leaves could mean. In the end, the symbolism of grass being himself after he dies by insinuating that the grass could feed on his body. In Stanza 2 of section 2, the poet reveals his love for the atmosphere, the bank by the woods (Whitman,). In fact he says, “I am mad for it to be in contact with me”. He continues to enumerate many aspects of the natural world in stanza three of the same section. For instance he talks about green leaves, dry leaves, the shore and the dark colored sea-rocks, hay, eddies of the wind, shine a shade of the trees, the fields and hills-sides. He finishes the stanza by saying, “The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun” (Whitman). He is therefore in love with nature and paints a picture of how his life is complete with the nature.

Literary Devices

Literary devices refer to the typical structures used by a writer to convey his message to the audience. They are narrative techniques used to enhance the delivery of the message intended. Generally, literary techniques are used to add energy, texture, and excitements and emotional attachment to the narrative so that the message can get a grip of the audiences’ mind, and convey information (Perrine, and Thomas 27). There are two categories of literary devices namely literary elements and literary techniques. Literary elements are the techniques authors use to develop the setting of narrative, the narrative structure, and the characters in the work, themes, mood and moral of the narrative. Literary techniques on the other hand are words or phrases which an author can use to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the reader (Connell 29). They include techniques like metaphors, alliteration, allegory, simile, diction, repetition and imagery among others. This section discusses three main devices that have been predominantly used in the poem

Repetition

Repetition is the use of same words, or same sentence structure within a literary piece. The repetition could come in form of similar words at the beginning of lines in a stanza. In this case, the repetition is called anaphora (Riffaterre, Michael, 13). Repetition can also be in the form of repeating either the whole of first or last line in several or many stanzas of the poem. Anaphora is the most evident repletion in “Song of Myself”. In many stanzas, certain words or phrases have been repeated in more than two lines. For examples in section one, the phrases, “Have you”, “You shall”, have been repeated in stanza four and five respectively. Stanza 4 of section 5, repeats the words “And I Know”, and “And that”, section 6 repeats the words “Or I guess” in stanzas 3, 4, and 5, while stanza 7 repeats the words “It may be” (Whitman). When repetition is used, they create certain feeling or idea, develops some sense of importance and also create rhythm. Rhythm plays an important part in poetry. According to (Connell, 178), rhymes delvers pleasing effects in a poem and thus makes it enjoyable to read and recite. Secondly, rhymes also offer themselves as mnemonics devices and thus smoothening the process of memorizing the poem (Connell, 178). Repetition has been explored through various types of rhymes including syllabic rhyme, imperfect rhymes, assonance and consonance.

Alliteration

            Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line of a stanza in a poem. In poetry, alliteration enhances the rhythm of the poem and subsequently makes the poem more attention-grabbing and sensational to read or recite (Connell 176).  This way, poets maintains the emotional attention of the audience who reads or who listed to the recitation of the poem. There are many examples where the poet successfully uses alliteration in many of his sections and stanzas. For instance, the sound of /s/ in “And I say to any man or woman, Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes”;  in line 9, of stanza 1, section 48; the sound of /f/ in “Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged” in first line of stanza 7, section 52; the sound of /g/ in “I perceive that the ghastly glimmer is noonday sunbeams reflected” I line 2 of last stanza, section 49; and the sound of /s/ in “Speeding through space, speeding through heaven and the stars” in line 74 of  stanza 3, section 33 (Whitman).

Imagery

Whitman has succeeded to use many images to pass messages throughout the poem. Imagery is the use of visual characteristics in a narrative so that through some items, an audience sees beyond what the poet says (Preminger et al., 17). According to Preminger et al., imagery is the use of figurative language to represent an idea, an action, a habit, attribute, objects or events in a manner that easily appeals to a physical sense (Preminger et al., 17). In most cases authors use specific words associated with visual representation of a different thing meant by the meaning of the word. In section 10, the poet used several imageries for instance, he describes himself as “riding in wilderness, sharing chowder with clam-digger, witnessing a marriage of trapper into Indian family and sheltering a runaway slave” in  stanza 5 of section 10. These images depict the poet as an individual who embraces and is in union with others, the material nature, and the cosmos (Davis et al,.). The marriage of the trapper into the Indian family particularly exhibits Whitman’s endeavor to create a memorable image that conveys a scene of union of ideal self with everyone and with everything.

Conclusion

Whitman’s poem, “Song of Myself” is an example of overindulgence of self with the outside world, both the spiritual and physical worlds. The poet uses free verse structure to capture several themes including, self-identity, relationship with the natural world and fellow human beings, spirituality and friendship. Although the poem is very long, about 70 pages, it revolves around the same themes. The poet used several literary devices to help create rhythm in the poem. The most evident include repetition (anaphora), alliteration, and imagery among others. Although the poem is more than a century old, it captivates the attention of the reader like it is a 21^st Century literary work.