Le |1
ANNOTATION 4
Full name: Bach Le
ID: 1541413
ENG 2206
Whitman was a famous 19th-century American poet, Leaves of Grass is Walt Whitman's
most famous work, revising and supplementing numerous times throughout his life, ultimately
producing nine version. "Song of Myself" is a poem from Leaves of Grass, it is a poem that
represents the core of Whitman's poetic vision.
Walt Whitman made plain right from the very first line of his poem, " I celebrate myself,
and sing myself," The introduction also refers to the classical invocation of the muse found in
other epic poems which suggest that the muse is Whitman and not God, or someone else. This
might seem narcissistic to the reader at first, but Whitman also added, " For every atom
belonging to me as good belongs to you." which clarifies the breadth of his artistic intentions.
This would not be a poem about Walt Whitman in particular, but rather a poem about all people.
We might think he is self-centered because he is celebrating himself in these opening lines, but
in the end, he is celebrating every person because he states that every atom belongs to him, to us.
The means that, we are all interconnected .He assumes that any person shares a soul with the
world, as shown by the word "atom". The cosmos orchestrates what happens to people, and
humans deal with challenges in their own unique manner. He really loved the harmony of things,
not just of his subtle nature, but of everything. "Born here of parents born here from parents the
same, and their parents the same,". He was surprised to learn that these generations of humans,
including himself, had been " form’d from this soil, this air,”
The author of " Song of Myself" also urges us through this opening to come closer and to
experience the flows of joy that this connection of all living creatures creates.