Song of
Myself
from
52 The spotted hawk
swoops by
Summary
 The
hawk gets angry for the man just
hanging around
 The man says he too is like the hawk, he's
just as free and just as important
 The man says he's a part of this world-he’s
a part of the circle of life
 He also says that he’s always moving with
this world-you look for him, he waits for
you
Sound Devices
 Parallelism:
“I too am not a bit tamed, I
too am untranslatable”(Whitman 3) This
adds emphasis to what he and the hawk
are both
 Alliteration: “and filter and fiber your
blood. Failing to fetch me at first keep
encouraged..”(Whitman13-14) this gives
the sentence a smoother and easier
melody.
Sound Devices
 Catalogue:
“I too am not a bit tamed, I
too am untranslatable, I sound my
barbaric yawp.. I depart as air, I shake my
white locks.. i effuse my flesh in eddies.. I
bequeath myself.. i stop somewhere
waiting for you.(Whitman) this device
adds emphasis to what he precisely is; all
along he’s just like the hawk and
everything else in the world.
Imagery
 “The
spotted hawk swoops by and
accuses me, he complains of my gab
and my loitering.” (Whitman 1) here you
can see a hawk literally swoop down
beside a man and get angry about the
man just hanging around and not filling his
potential.
Metaphors
 “He
complains of my gab and my
loitering” (Whitman 1)
 “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am
untranslatable” (Whitman 2)
 “if you want me again look for me under
your boot-soles”(Whitman 10)
 “but I shall be good health to you
nevertheless, and filter and fiber your
blood” ( Whitman 12-13)
Metaphor Explanation
 Line
1: This says how the hawk,
representing the natural growth of world,
is mad at Whitman for just hanging
around and fulfilling his potential the
world has for him.
 Line 2 : This line says how he too is like the
hawk, who is the world. He is also free, he
is also untamed. He has complete
freedom.
Metaphor Explanation


Line 10 : This line says that he is the land
growing underneath you. At the beginning of
this poem he say how death isn't really death,
it’s the beginning of new grown. When he
dies, he's not dead. He's the world growing
underneath you
Line 12-13 : These lines say that he is the world,
and you don’t know it yet from the ignorance
you portray but you are as well a part of him.
We’re all nature. Even know you don’t know
this, he still treats you right.
Themes
Whitman believes that the entire world is
connected. He says we’re all made of
atoms, so we must all be connected. He
also says death is not really dead, its new
growth and life. “If you want me again look
for me under your boot-soles” (Whitman 10)
This line says how when he dies he wont be
just a decaying corps, but he will be the
growth and the grass, the world, growing
right before you.