Whitman and His Sense of Self

Walt Whitman is a poet who changed the course of American poetry forever. His blunt, straightforward way of writing was a shock to some people, and it definitely is what allowed him to become so famous. Whitman, throughout his poetry, was said to search for his own definition of “self.” When reading his poems, I definitely got an idea of what his opinion of his own self was; he was very self-centered and conceited about his accomplishments and his ideas relating to the society and other people around him. By reading his poems “Myself and Mine” and “One Song, America, Before I Go” I was able to kind of pick up a sense of pride he held in his work and his own self, and it was a pride that almost seemed too overwhelming and over exaggerated. Although he may have been trying to explain to his readers how he viewed his own self, I personally thought it came off as much too showy and conceited.

In his poem “Myself and Mine,” Whitman writes about how he feels about certain subjects and people and how others might feel and react (Whitman “Myself”). When reading this, I got the sense that Whitman was extremely conceited. He wrote about situations in which he believed the society was flawed; however, instead of doing this in a respectable way, he was extremely rude and biased (Whitman “Myself”). For example, he wrote, “And who are you-blabbing by rote, years, pages, languages, reminiscences, Unwitting to-day that you do not know how to speak a single word?” (Whitman “Myself”). While I do appreciate people simply expressing their own opinions, I think he did so in a completely unnecessary manner. Most likely referring to people who were thought of highly in the society, he tore their image to pieces by basically saying they spoke nonsense (Whitman “Myself”). I really think he could have done that in way that was not as biased, and, as a result, he would have most likely gained the respect and interest of readers instead of the disgust and conflicts that instead were the reactions of many readers during his time. Whitman was trying to explore the definition of self and wanted to express his own “self,” and through “Myself and Mine” I think he did a pretty terrible job at expressing his own opinions and showing the world what he was about. Unless, however, he wanted to be shown as a selfish, stuck up poet; in that case, he would have succeeded.

The trend continues with his poem “One Song, America, Before I Go.” The title itself, in my opinion, is a brief reflection of the work itself. The title is so self centered, as if Whitman must make one last contribution to America before he can finally leave the earth; he acts like it is his duty to grant America one last song so that we can rest in peace with him gone (Whitman “One”). After inferring this from the title and then reading the poem itself, I realized that my assumption was right. The whole poem is about how he would do all of these great accomplishments before his death so that America can rest happily after his death; we will have been granted the knowledge and opinion of Walt Whitman and, therefore, have nothing left to ask for (Whitman “One”). Whitman displays his sense of “self” by proposing that he has all the right mindsets and facts regarding the government, the nation, and society in general (Whitman “One”). He says that he has the right “formula” to how America should be run, and people just need to see things how he does; then all of our problems would be solved (Whitman “One”). As previously mentioned, if Whitman was trying to display his own “self” as conceited, biased, selfish, and arrogant, he did a wonderful job portraying that. If not, his meaning of “self” may have been lost or misinterpreted on the readers of his poetry.





WORKS CITED

Whitman, Walt. "Myself and Mine." Leaves of Grass. 1990. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. .

Whitman, Walt. "One Song, America, Before I Go." Leaves of Grass. 1990. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. .