–Mainly from 0:43 to the 3:07–
The stanza that I pick from the poem “song of myself” is the first stanza, which I consider as one of the most important and interesting stanzas of this poem because it touches on some of the most controversial issues that is still bothering the society today. For example, the line “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” shows that every atom inside of Walt Whitman’s is also every atom of of us. Whitman is trying to show that we are all equal. Despite of our race, religion, gender, and age, we are all together as one. We are all human that lives in this planet, and thus, that makes us all equal. Whitman claims his point again when he says “Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same”. We are all born from parents, and if we trace back to our ancestors, we all have the same parents so why do we fight, why do we steal from others, why are we so selfish? In my opinion, Whitman is trying to establish peach by using this poem. Whitman writes this poem in hope of bringing everyone in this planet, no matter what color, sexuality, belief, age, and occupation, together and bringing an end to all the wars, unfairness, arguments, and other negative conflicts between people. In this video commentary that I pick, an English professor is teaching students by talking about his interpretation of stanza 1 of the “song of myself”. I particular like when he says that Whitman brings himself and all his future readers together as one because this idea parallel with my idea of Whitman using this poem to establish peace and equality among humanity. Also, I like when he says that when Whitman is writing this poem, his mind is about United States. This shows that Whitman is a patriot who wants to bring peace into our country, which is also what I hope for today.