Whitman´s poetry: Song of my self

Song of my self is one of the best wellknown poems of the book Leaves of Grass written by Walt Whitman in 1855. The poem is very extensive as it consists of 52 sections that were written by the author with a combination of meditation and biography. Additionally,the poem is a democratic manifestation because Whitman considered himself  a democatic cityzen of  the United States of America so Whitman´s values respond to equality and togetherness. He thinks that all peope are equal and that all people have the same opportunities in life.
But,why Song of myself? well, the answer is very simple.Whitman uses himself as an onject matter to talk to the reader about the ideals of democracy, not only as a politican system but also as way of thinking and living.

 

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil,

this air..."

Moreover, the poem is a celebration itself because when the reader starts to read this poem realizes that the aim of the writer is to  celebrate life and for doing this Walt presents us the miracles of nature to show us how incredible life is.Also Whitman in Song of myself  celebrates himself,his soul,his life as human being that is also part of the universe and the cosmos. In the poem, Walt uses the grass to symbolize the nature and also life. What is grass?, grass are the leafes of his book, it is also the child that he used to be, and it is also an element of the nature that at the same time is part of the whole universe and part of us.

"A child said

What is the grass?

fetching it to me with full

hands;

How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any

more than he.

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful

green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,

A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,

Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we

may see and remark, and say

Whose?

Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the

vegetation."

The  grass symbolizes life and death and at the same time the grass in the hands of the child assumes the role of United States as a democratic country that is becaming stable in comparison to the grass´ regeneration that from being death has emerge to life. The Grass is a trascendental element linked to the inmortality idea of nature, and this nature is an emblem of God eternal presence that is everywhere.
The poet´s idea in showing us this relationship is to pointout that even small things play an important role in the cosmos.

References
http://www.literary-articles.com/2009/03/use-of-symbols-in-song-of-myself-by.html
http://www.letras.ufrj.br/veralima/veralima_2004/5_lit_am2/lit_am2i/essays/e11.htm
http://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/song-of-myself-by-walt-whitmans-english-literature-essay.php