Whitman's "Song of Myself," p.30
In reading both the poems by Whitman I could not help but become mesmerized by the flow of his descriptive language. You could read the poem and stand on the streets with him, seeing, feeling and smelling all that he did. Whitman addresses this very thing, knowing his audience will be endless, will transcend time and space, and if he is successful will be transported to the very moment he is experiencing.
When Whitman writes "Song of Myself" we are transported into his very soul. Exposed to his wealth of knowledge and if we are willing, taught a lesson that could very well carry us through our lives. I believe that he gives us the gift of understanding the divine nature of life.
Whitman begins as existence would begin, with a desire for the earth, to live upon it, to "be mad for it to be in contact with me." He then goes on at the end of the second section to ask if we have really contemplated what everything means, what poetry means. Then he makes us a promise that if we focus on this poem we will understand the origin of all poems, that:
"You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,)You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on spectres in books, You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self."
With many of the stanzas of this poem we come to understand what Whitman felt about what this life really was, who we are, and where we are going. In section five he describes what sounds like an experience of having this knowledge confirmed to him through a divine experience. Then in section six he gifts us his realization of what grass really is. A question is posed, is it "the handkerchief of the lord", "A scented gift",” a child", or "a uniform hieroglyphic", "the beautiful uncut hair of graves", he finds from it hints of eternity "The smallest sprout shows there is really no death." I find it quite remarkable, that a man, who was an observer of all, came to understand lifes' greatest mysteries!
