"Song of Myself" is a poem by Walt Whitman (18191892) that is included in his work Leaves of Grass. It has been credited as "representing the core of Whitman's poetic mission"Greenspan, Ezra, ed. Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself": A Sourcebook and Critical Edition. New York and London: Routledge, 2005. and has been called Whitman's "greatest poem".Edmundson, Mark (2021). Song of Ourselves: Walt Whitman and the Fight for Democracy. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press, p. xi.
Publication history The poem was first published without sectionsLoving, Jerome. Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself. California: University of California Press, 1999. 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.
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). The number of sections is generally thought to mirror the number of weeks in the year.
Walt Whitman: Complete Poetry and Collected Prose (the Library of America, 1982) contains the 1855 edition and the 1891–92 edition.
Reception 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.Gutman, Huck. "Walt Whitman's 'Song of Myself'". The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Jay Parini, ed. Oxford University Press, 2004. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 20 October 2011 Jay Parini named it the greatest American poem ever written, as did Mark Edmundson.Edmundson, Mark (2021). Song of Ourselves: Walt Whitman and the Fight for Democracy. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press, p. 138.
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."Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. 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".Edmundson, Mark (2021). Song of Ourselves: Walt Whitman and the Fight for Democracy. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press, p. 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". 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. Chase Richard. (1961). Walt Whitman. New York : William Sloane Associates. “I ridiculed Leaves of Grass as the most intricate idiocy that a preposterous pen had ever written.” Milton, H. Walt Whitman, The Critical Heritage. 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.” Anonymous review ‘Walt Whitman and his poems’, United States Review, 5th September 1855
Literary style
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.Redding, Patrick. "Whitman Unbound: Democracy and Poetic Form". New Literary Theory 41.3 (2010): 669-90. Project Muse. 19 October 2011.Quotations from "Song of Myself" in this section are from the 1891-1892 edition.
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)
Themes in ‘Song of Myself’ Politics and War 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. Greenspan, E. (1995). The Cambridge companion to Walt Whitman. Cambridge University Press. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/cam026/94023452.html 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) Sex, Sexuality and Gender 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 stanzas, 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”, Chase Richard. (1961). Walt Whitman. New York : William Sloane Associates. 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, Disseminating Whitman: Revision and Corporeality in “Leaves of Grass” (1991) and Byrne R.S. Fone, , Masculine Landscapes: Walt Whitman and the Homoerotic Text (1992) 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. Levin, J., & Whitley, E. K. (Eds.). (2018). Walt Whitman in context. Cambridge University Press. 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 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)
"Self" 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).Quotations in this section are from the 1891-1892 edition.
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)