Alexandra Tu
10/22/2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1zHhiA7gDc
Song of Myself by Walt Whitman: Section 6 Analysis
In this video, Tim Mcgee facilitates a great discussion about one of the most important sections in the Song of Myself– that is section 6. This section is significant for Walt Whitman’s work because it’s ultimately the reason why he titled his collection of poetry, “Leaves of Grass”. Additionally, Section 6 highlights many important symbols which explain his overall theme that can best be described as “the Circle of Life”.
The beginning of this section (00:42) starts with a child asking him a question which he cannot provide a clear answer to, “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.”
Whitman guesses that grass, “is the handkerchief of the Lord” which is a symbol for a loving gift. It means that God is present in the manifestation of nature’s beautiful things such as grass.
So what is grass? After numerous guesses regarding its symbolic nature, Whitman finalizes his thoughts: “And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.” This metaphor is based on the idea that the dead support new life. Grass is the symbol of the transcendence of life because it represents the cycle of life: living beings come from nature and go back to nature (are buried in the ground when they die). Thus, earth is one big graveyard because the soil is composed of dead bodies and soil is what allows for roots/new grass to grow.
Whitman concludes by saying: “The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life” (6:13 in video) – Mcgee sums this up by saying: Life is beautifully lived when you appreciate how beautiful death is because it is apart of the experience. It is to be embraced.
Whitman’s idea’s / guesses of grass are meant to give us comfort about ‘life’ and learn to appreciate/value how beautiful the cycle of life and death is. He believes that death never ends anything – rather it’s the continuation of life and once we understand that, we get to recognize the beauty of our existence.