Song of Myself

"Song of Myself" is a poem by Walt Whitman (1819–1892) that is included in his work Leaves of Grass. It has been credited as "representing the core of Whitman's poetic mission"^[1] and has been called Whitman's "greatest poem".^[2]

The poem was first published without sections^[3] as the first of twelve untitled poems in the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass. The first edition was published by Whitman at his own expense.

In the second (1856) edition, Whitman used the title "Poem of Walt Whitman, an American", which was shortened to "Walt Whitman" for the third (1860) edition.^[1]

The poem was divided into fifty-two numbered sections for the fourth (1867) edition and finally took on the title "Song of Myself" in the last edition (1891–2).^[1] The number of sections is generally thought to mirror the number of weeks in the year.^[4]

Walt Whitman: Complete Poetry and Collected Prose (the Library of America, 1982) contains the 1855 edition and the 1891–92 edition.

Following its 1855 publication, "Song of Myself" was immediately singled out by critics and readers for particular attention, and the work remains among the most acclaimed and influential in American poetry.^[5] Jay Parini named it the greatest American poem ever written,^[6] as did Mark Edmundson.^[7]

In 1855, the Christian Spiritualist gave a long, glowing review of "Song of Myself", praising Whitman for representing "a new poetic mediumship," which through active imagination sensed the "influx of spirit and the divine breath."^[8] Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a letter to Whitman, praising the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass as "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed".^[1][9]

Public acceptance was slow in coming, however. Social conservatives denounced the poem as flouting accepted norms of morality due to its blatant depictions of human sexuality. In 1882, Boston's district attorney threatened action against Leaves of Grass for violating the state's obscenity laws and demanded that changes be made to several passages from "Song of Myself".^[1] Whitman’s “Song of Myself” was so negatively reviewed by critics when it was first released that it received very little critical acclaim during Whitman’s lifetime. Moreover, it was frequently banned in public libraries and received some sneering reviews from a variety of contemporary critics. Due to negative public reception, Whitman’s “Song of Myself” was virtually unread by a wider audience outside of critics and those Whitman provided with copies personally.^[10]

“I ridiculed Leaves of Grass as the most intricate idiocy that a preposterous pen had ever written.” ^[11]

In response to the overwhelmingly negative reviews of his poem, Walt Whitman published his own review of “Song of Myself” under an anonymous handle, where he writes;

“An American bard at last! One of the roughs, large, proud, affectionate, eating, drinking and breeding, his costume manly and free, his face sunburnt and bearded, his posture strong and erect, his voice bringing hope and prophecy to the generous races of young and old.”

“No sniveller, or tea-drinking poet, no puny clawback or prude, is Walt Whitman.” ^[12]

The poem is written in Whitman's signature free verse style. Whitman, who praises words "simple as grass" (section 39) forgoes standard verse and stanza patterns in favor of a simple, legible style that can appeal to a mass audience.^[13][14]

Critics have noted a strong Transcendentalist influence on the poem. In section 32, for instance, Whitman writes, "I think I could turn and live with animals".

In addition to this romanticism, the poem seems to anticipate a kind of realism that would only become important in United States literature after the American Civil War. In the following passage, for example, one can see Whitman's inclusion of the gritty details of everyday life:

The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirm'd case,

(He will never sleep any more as he did in the cot in his mother's bed-room;)
The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case,
He turns his quid of tobacco while his eyes blurr with the manuscript;
The malform'd limbs are tied to the surgeon's table,
What is removed drops horribly in a pail;
The quadroon girl is sold at the auction-stand, the drunkard nods by the bar-room stove, (section 15)

Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is associated with revolutionary themes, it contains a multitude of things that have grown to be associated with Whitman’s poetry as a whole. Throughout the stanzas there is a conflict between Whitman’s patriotism and his defiance of the societal norms within American culture at the time he wrote “Leaves of Grass”. Egalitarianism shines throughout the work, “Song of Myself” focuses on the equal nature of all people, that everyone who he writes for are alike, that he represents the American people rather than a specific class, race, gender or belief. ^[15]

Whitman’s “Song of Myself” touches on the American Civil War. In stanza 34 he highlights a non-romanticised version of the events of the Battle of Alamo, a pivotal battle in the revolution of Texas. He tells the story of the soldiers as though he was a witness himself, but Whitman himself had no direct connection to the American Civil War until the 1860’s. His writings on the Battle of Alamo highlights the massacres of the war prisoners, while bringing their young ages into attention;

Bearded, sunburnt, drest in the free costume of hunters,

Not a single one over thirty years of age. (section 34)

Themes of sex and sexuality dominate Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and, in turn they are prevalent in “Song of Myself”. These underlying concepts are present throughout the entire poem and have shaped the way the public viewed it and how it was received from the very beginning. Like many of Walt Whitman’s works, one of the main themes of “Song of Myself” is the exploration of sexuality through a non-heteronormative lens. Whitman writes about themes of ‘Manly Love’ and ‘Sexual Love’ throughout the stanza’s, keeping an emphasis on the intensely passionate attraction and interaction.

Many critics and publications surrounding Whitman are able to come to the same conclusion, inferring his queerness from his writings, especially that of “Song of Myself”. Such critics have made comments on Whitman himself “He had his neurotic side – covert, bisexual, quirky”,^[16] and many viewed his poems and “Song of Myself” as a way to try and communicate his homosexuality to readers and the American public. While some critics who read “Song of Myself” tried to read in-between the lines to support their views of Whitman’s queerness, other critics, such as Michael Moon,^[17] and Byrne R.S. Fone, ^[18] take Whitman at his word and assume that his sexuality is as it is directly presented through his form.

Whitman’s “Song of Myself” explores gender roles and the role of sexuality within the American woman throughout the verses. The way Whitman presents women within the stanza’s goes against traditional gender norms and this extends into his representation of female exploration and sexuality. Section 2 of the poem is the perfect example of Whitman’s portrayal of women’s sexual desire, following a woman watching as men bathe allowing her imagination to delve into the taboo. ^[19]

The poet, Whitman, also speaks on gender inequality within the verse of “Song of Myself”, he announces that he as a poet represents women as much as he does men, as well as speaking on how women and men should be equal;

I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,

And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men, (Section 21)

Class is an underlying theme throughout “Song of Myself”, Whitman continuingly representing his disgust of class differences throughout his writing and criticising those who profit off of the divide without having to work themselves;

To feed the greed of the belly the brains liberally spooning,

Tickets buying, taking, selling, but in the feast never once going,
Many sweating, ploughing, thrashing, and then the chaff for payment receiving, A few idly owning, and they the wheat continually claiming. (Section 42)

In the poem, Whitman emphasizes an all-powerful "I" which serves as narrator, who should not be limited to or confused with the person of the historical Walt Whitman. The persona described has transcended the conventional boundaries of self: "I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash'd babe, and am not contain'd between my hat and boots" (section 7).^[20]

There are several other quotes from the poem that make it apparent that Whitman does not consider the narrator to represent a single individual. Rather, he seems to be narrating for all:

• "For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." (Section 1)
• "In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn less/And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them" (Section 20)
• "It is you talking just as much as myself, I act as the tongue of you" (Section 47)
• "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)" (Section 51)

Alice L. Cook and John B. Mason offer representative interpretations of the "self" as well as its importance in the poem. Cook writes that the key to understanding the poem lies in the "concept of self" (typified by Whitman) as "both individual and universal,"^[21] while Mason discusses "the reader’s involvement in the poet’s movement from the singular to the cosmic".^[22] The "self" serves as a human ideal; in contrast to the archetypal self in epic poetry, this self is one of the common people rather than a hero.^[23] Nevertheless, Whitman locates heroism in every individual as an expression of the whole (the "leaf" among the "grass").

Canadian doctor and long-time Whitman friend Richard Maurice Bucke analyzed the poem in his influential and widely read 1898 book Cosmic Consciousness, as part of his investigation of the development of man's mystic relation to the infinite.

Simon Wilder delivers this poem to Monty Kessler in With Honors. Walt Whitman's work features prominently throughout the film, and Simon Wilder is often referred to as Walt Whitman's ghost.

A line from section 52 of the 1891-92 edition of "Song of Myself" is featured in the film Dead Poets Society, directed by Peter Weir. The line refers to the sounding of the "barbaric yawp", which illustrates the urgency of the film's protagonists and was read out to them by their English teacher John Keating, played by Robin Williams.

The poem figures in the plot of the 2008 young adult novel Paper Towns by John Green.^[24]

A documentary project, Whitman, Alabama, featured residents of Alabama reading Whitman verses on camera.^[25][26]

The poem is central to the plot of the play I and You by Lauren Gunderson.^[27]

"Song of Myself" was a major inspiration for the symphonic metal album Imaginaerum (2011) by Nightwish, as well as the fantasy film based on that album.

The poem is recited (or rather enacted) by lead character Will (played by Winston Duke) in the climatic closing scene of the 2020 movie Nine Days.

The quote 'I am large, I contain multitudes' from the poem is prominently featured as a thematic element in the movie The Life of Chuck (2024).

• "I Contain Multitudes", a 2020 Bob Dylan song

• The University of Toronto's full text, with line numbers
• Emerson's letter To Whitman
• Alice L. Cook's "A Note on Whitman's Symbolism in 'Song of Myself'"
• John B. Mason's "Walt Whitman's Catalogues: Rhetorical Means for Two Journeys in "Song of Myself"
• WhitmanWeb's full text in 12 languages, plus audio recordings and commentaries
• Audio: Robert Pinsky reads from "Song of Myself" Archived 2019-07-31 at the Wayback Machine
• Song of Myself public domain audiobook at LibriVox (individual sections)
• Leaves of Grass public domain audiobook at LibriVox