Song of Myself : Summary

Summary

“SONG OF MYSELF”  is a poem by WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892). Although this poem is called SONG OF MYSELF, it was published before 1881 under a different name. Then the name of this poem was “Poem of Walt Whitman, an American”.

The poem was later published in the 1881 edition under the title “SONG OF MYSELF”. There was, however, a reason for the previous naming. Because WALT WHITMAN uses the word “I” repeatedly in the poem. Here “I” means the poet directly refers to himself, but the word symbolically refers to all Americans.

That is, what he is saying is basically what all Americans are saying, and what he is celebrating and thinking is what all Americans are thinking. His words and his thoughts represent Americans and even people around the world. Because he thinks that the blood flowing in the human body of the whole world is basically created from the same atom or molecule.

The 37-year-old poet feels that his fit body and the blood flowing through his body will continue till death. Essentially here he sings of his own life, his own body, and his own triumph.

This poem talks about a room in which a self is kept with perfume which he is taking without his knowledge. But the poet does not want to take this fragrance indoors but he wants to go far away to the riverside forest where he wants to merge with nature.

He wants to enjoy nature and listen to nature and understand nature. There are many people talking but the poet is silent and only listens to them. He has no thoughts about the past and future. He thinks only of the present and the experience gained from the present. He forgets past and future and wants to merge with nature and learn about everything new and old in nature.

Every day spent on earth and every discovery and ongoing society he is secretly observing and trying to understand what is going on in this world.

Later the poet talks about body and mind where he mentions body and mind as sacred. As the body walks over the green grass of nature, he invites his soul to walk with him. At the same time, for this ongoing journey of body and soul, he describes the peace he is getting within himself as the peace given by the Creator.

In a story in the poem, the poet says that one day a boy came to him with some grass in his hand and asked what they really were.

At first, he can’t answer, but later says it’s the creator’s handkerchief, also referring to it as the Flag of Disposition. Later he also said that these grasses are the image of all the children born on earth or the image of all the people of the earth. It may also be that the grass is a soft thing that sprouts from the chest of all the young people living on earth, and the grass may be the soft hair on the head of the old lady in an old-age home or a wonderful thing that sprouts from the soft beard of the old man.

Later he narrates another story where the poet says that 28 men were bathing simultaneously in a river and a young woman was watching them from the window of a house by the river. Seeing the young men’s shapely bodies swimming hand-in-hand, the young woman felt a sense of calmness. The young woman’s hand passed over the shoulders of the young men but the young men did not understand anything. 28 young men and a young woman were swimming drunkenly in the river but the young men could not understand the young woman.

Also in the poem the poet describes the image of a butcher’s boy lending a knife. In addition, the image of the farmer working in the field, burnt by the sun and wet by the rain, and the imaginary image of how the people of the world are working with the machinery are also shown.

The poet presents the poet as sometimes young, sometimes old, sometimes maternal, sometimes paternal, sometimes very wise, and sometimes very foolish. He also says that although the poem talks about himself, here he is not only himself but he himself is a reflection of the whole of America.

Because what he is describing in this poem, what he is thinking is not only his own thoughts but the thoughts of every person living in America and not only in America but the thoughts of every person living in this world. That is, he presented himself in this poem as a reflection of every human being in the world.