Reading the “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman I fall in love in his poems. The philosophy of his deep thoughts about the world and himself overwhelmed my mind. I tried to understand his “I” and his ”What”, tried to share his opinion about all events in the Universe. I wanted to understand every single world and sentence, every thought and intonation, wanted to be one equal thing with him. And I want to tell you guys it is impossible, just because his writing is unique and extraordinary, interesting and unbelievable. From the beginning, from the first words of the poem “Song of Myself” I thought Walt is a very selfish man, who talks about himself and his personality in majestic, grand, imperial manner. And the reader has to admire him and “assume what he assumes.” However, while reading further I changed my opinion to the opposite way. Undoubtedly, his poem is about himself but and life in America, about daily life of its citizens, about You and Me, about Us.
What the people saw every day in America of 19th century inspired him to write his opinion about daily routine life and people. He talk about crime, murders, death, birth, woman that hurry up home from work to deliver a baby, poor people dying from the hunger, prostitution. The urban life was disgusting for him, where was no freedom, and he found it in the country area. He enjoyed the time there: ”I helped,..I hunt… Kindling a fire…falling asleep on the gathered leaves with my dog and gun by my side.” That time was a great racial and status inequality, and mainly it was a slavery time for America. Walt was not a slave but he defiantly was against any inequality in the society. He did not discriminate people by any qualities as sex, race, skin color, or material status in the society. All people on the Earth were equal for him. I guess if he could he would support every person in need like he did it for the slave from his poem.
Walt described his feeling and emotions so realistic that we get the sense of his present around us. Reading the poem we felt the smell of perfumes, “the smoke of his breath”, “the beating of his heart”, the “sniff of green leaves and dry leaves” with him and more and more and more. Reading him I had a feeling that his voice somewhere behind me and tells me everything about him, his story, history of his life. “Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems.” I had a sense of his “I” somewhere around me. Didn’t you feel the same? The poem is written that way that he makes us the witness of his life and without our wish to create the history, reading his thoughts.
In his poem he presents a lyrical hero, his “I”, who is not a single one thing in the poem. He represents himself in “I” but also every living thing on the Earth. “I” is not only in what surrounding him every day: emotions, events, people, but also something special. He emphasizes this word a big role in his poem. He separates “I” from himself and give it a soul, something as living organism, whose role is witnessing his life. But it is a positive substance not material but “light”, “intangible” and “weightless”. I think he emphases that all people combines in ”I”, the represents of variety of people’s emotions, pain, feelings, lifes and wishes. I is not a single structure, it is many-sided thing. Sounds like he tries to speak from all of us, tries to place himself on our place: “you shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself” He is kind of guide us with his thoughts to the right way of our life destination. His lyrical person “I” makes some kind of friendship with the reader, connect to us thought the reading to our mind. And that is how we get to know Walt Whitman. He stats that every part and element of the world, every living organism, every person on the Earth is “I “and equal, because they all have been born and dyed equally.
He shares with us his opinion about circle of life. He stats there is always and permanent moving of life creation in the world:
“Out of the procreant urge of the world.
Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always substance and increase, always sex,
Always knit of identity,
Always disjunction, always a breed of life.”
Walt does not recognize death as something bad and as a finish of the life’s path: “the smallest sprout shows there is really no death.” He believes death temporarily exists. Death just makes a creation of life. Everything is moving forward by death and death is not an obstacle on the way of life and birth: “And the die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” Moreover, “Song of Myself” is a proof of Walt’s words, because he is alive in his book, in his “I”.
From Walt’s poem we have been introduced not only to American life but also to Walt Whitman himself. Through the Walt’s feelings, emotions and parts of his life in America we get to know him as a sensitive person. We read his thoughts on a paper and get to know what type of person he was. . I found a reflection of my thought in his writing, and even I had the sense that I know him or already knew. And I understood his temper, character, personality and wishes. Who is it, Mr. Whitman? He is a very kind and fair person, who wants to stats the equality in the world. He did not do crimes and bad things. We get to know him as a good person who worked hard, wrote poems and wanted to achieve equity, fairness and truth in the poem. He “dances, laughs, sings”, loves this world and enjoys it every single day. He is a happy person. All his writing represenst his aspiration for living and teach us to enjoy every day and appreciate life.
He has freedom of speaking in his writing and the words create the real song about him. Walt does not seem to be afraid of people’s opinion and discussions, their anger and complaints. He is a white man does not afraid to write about his compassion to the black slaves. He is a freely open person for us and people who were around him that time. He loves everybody and everything. Walt is ready to sacrifices all he has for us, and even himself:
“Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,…
No asking the sky to come down to my good will,
Scattering if freely forever.”
For me everything is obvious, Walt Whitman is an open book that we have to read, read and read again. Then more you read then more you will find answers on the question: “Who am I?” We all are part of the big Universe, equal in front of death and life, and have our own path here to find ourselves as Walt did in his poem. Ask yourself: What do you think is “I”? What is “I”?
Who are You? What are You?
Don’t you think it is an everlasting question as well as Walt Whitman’s words and thoughts?…
Answering on them every one of you will find own answer like it did Walt Whitman. And You will know the song of Yourself.
Anna Kapitsa
