Walt Whitman "Song of Myself" Poems

As evident by his modern free verse poetry and even the bourgeois portrait he chose to render as the owner of those works, American poet Walt Whitman defies conventions of that time by crafting his art according to the words of the prominent Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson: "No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this" (Emerson 686). Like Emerson, Whitman believes in the intimate adherence to one's inner truth as opposed to the "foolish consistencies" of statesmen, philosophers, and divines (689). That inner truth is achievable through the personal reverence with the spirit of nature where ultimately a connection to the "over soul" is consummate. And it is only by this unification with the "over soul" that the insertion and invention of the independent "self" arises. This ideology is reflected in Whitman's collection of poems entitled Song of Myself, where his own voice displays man's innate relationship with nature and thus the natural calling toward the universal soul. Although the first poem extols the ideal of only an individual's connection to nature, poem 10 presents an ensemble piece that celebrates not specifically the independent soul, but rather the unification of vastly diverse people. Despite what appears to be a tension of values, this conflict is rectified through the unifying Transcendental ideology of the "over soul" and the reliant "self" that works as the rudiment. Therefore, poem 10 instead works as a comprehensive ensemble piece that echoes the values of poem 1 in a multifaceted manner. Just as the infrastructure of seeking the inner truth and the "over soul" harmonizes these two poems together, it reflects larger in the historical context of the 19^th century where oppressed groups such as African American slaves were not willing to stand silently and allow their inner truth to be compromised.

Although the forms of these two poems are noticeably different in length- deviant in structure down to syntax- these two poetic compositions are still harmonious within the "Song of Myself" collection in that at the heart of poem 10 resonates the pulse of first. In expressing his intimate unity with nature, Whitman writes in line 6 alone, "My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, ..." which presents a series of truncated phrases in a single sentence. Where in contrast, poem 10 implements conjunct and elaborate sentence structure through his example of his encounter with a badly injured runaway slave: "And [I] went where he sat on a log and led him in and assured him,/And brought water and fill'd a tub for his sweated body and bruis'd feet," (192-193). However, poem 1's concise wording symbolizes the elementary Transcendental ideal of how everything in nature is inherently connected and breathed with the same universal truth. Therefore just as poem 1 contains succinct syntax, it works as a succinct underlying pulse to poem 10; a pulse of universality that extends from "every atom of my blood" to "his sweated body and bruis'd feet". Furthermore, despite their opposing compositions, both poems implement bonds from one notion to another, as manifested in their two-sentenced second stanzas- giving them an innate similarity. Poem 1 begins with the celebration of the independent "self" and by its second stanza it prayerfully harkens to nature and invites his soul to it (4), much like the conduit of the personal soul to an omnipotent divinity. Poem 10's second stanza transitions similarly from a point of solitude in nature to a place where he enjoys the community of boatmen and clam-diggers (182). However it initially begins with a setting that shares a likeness with the entirety of poem 1 in which Whitman wanders freely in the wild, amazed at his own lightness and glee (175). Because the first paragraph of poem 10 shares this ideal yet transcends through the second paragraph toward the ideal of universality with other individuals shows that these two poems are not incompatible but instead sequential of a greater whole. The mere image of Yankee clipper, a vessel whose purpose is to bring back exotic and precious teas to America, cutting the "sparkle and scud" toward a nearing land (180) represents not only the significance of possessing this inner truth but furthermore the significance transcending even past that and connecting oneself to the "over soul" of others.

The sharply different tempos of these poems mirror the reverent tranquility experienced in the invention of "the self" versus the dynamic aspiration for the independent-self to commune others like it. Poem 1 is akin to the peaceful musings of a man communing with nature. Through the alliteration in the way he "leans and loafs" at his ease (4) a languid and lulling effect is expressed. Also, with the constant insertion of his egocentric language, his very first words being, "I celebrate myself and sing myself/And what I assume you shall assume" (1-2), Whitman presents little conscience of the world outside from a grassy knoll and his prayerful mind. And by the manner in which he creates that tone does he calm the dynamics of the poem to ensure a similar spiritual basking. However, the pace of poem 10 is accelerated through episodic, face-to-face contact with other individuals as well as by active descriptions of the world around him. In the third stanza, Whitman tucks his trousers in his boots and labors with other boatsmen, and has a "good time" (183). In the fourth, he witnesses the matrimonial ceremony of a white fur trapper and a Native American woman who is given away by "her father and his friends" sitting nearby (186). And it is the final segment, where Whitman himself no longer joins in nor witnesses but instead is directly affected by a runaway slave who comes to his house in search of sanctuary for his "sweaty body, bruised feet" (193) and the "galls of his neck" (196). Through these vivid, episodic stanzas and the sensatory actions he exercises, Whitman crafts a poem that emits a tone of expediency but ultimately of moving urgency for the "independent-self" to commune with others who have sought out their own inner truths as well. The cheerful and long dedicated labor of the working-class boatsmen, the fledging marriage of a couple who are from two historically conflicted backgrounds, and the runaway slave's passage up north to freedom are all specific examples of individuals actively adhering to their own inner truths. Be that inner truth rising early for an honest hard day's work (183), marrying someone outside of society's approval, or fleeing out of cruelty toward independence, all of these inventions of the "reliant-self" intimately gravitate toward Whitman and spiritually commune with him. Furthermore it is a concept that is advocated through the life of Frederick Douglass, freed slave and writer of the 19^th century. He follows his inner truth and fights through his orations and "denounces, with all emphasis [he] can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery" (Douglass). He asks that his right to self-reliance is recognized and that his inclusion in universality is known. And it is by poem 10's orchestra of these separately reverent aspirations- as seen microscopically in poem 1- that it gains its tempo of expediency, urgency, and even vitality toward the "over soul".

The Transcendentalist ideals of "human intuition and the inexhaustible significance of nature" (655) are central to Whitman's collection of poems, Song of Myself. In his composition of poems 1 and 10 he harmonizes the human intuition and its relation to nature by providing the underlying ideal of the inner soul and its important part in the universal truth. Although poem 1 expresses great adulation for himself and his unity with nature and poem 10 celebrates the strong natural connection between other people, this tension is mollified through their mutual understanding of the inner truth relevant to the "reliant-self". Through their different structural forms and the tempos by which they are expressed, these two poems act as complementary agents for the idea of the "over soul" that has been historically understood by individuals like Frederick Douglass. Poem 1's short, truncated structure coupled with its pensive tone work as the rudimentary stage of solitary reverence with nature and the inner truth that is gained from that. Poem 10 then takes those concepts and transcends further into finding communion with those who have gone out of their way to adhere to their inner truths and have paved a way toward self reliance- thus unifies them under a divine providence.

Citations:

- Emerson, Ralph W. "Self-Reliance." The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. By Susan Belasco. Ed. Stephanie A Scipione. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford's/St. Martin's, 2008. 683-701.

- Douglass, Frederick. What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?. Ed. 1852. Teaching American History, 2006. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University . Web.

- Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. By Susan Belasco. Ed. Stephanie A. Scipione. Vol.1. Boston: Bedford's/St. Martin's. 2008. 1238-1239, 1244-1245.