The Complex Message In Walt Whitman's Song Of Myself

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Poetry is a form of art which conveys a complex message through few words. Each poem has a deeper meaning than what is seen upfront. At times it can be harder to understand because “the theme is often wrapped up in the subtext” (Macaron) but many readers can attest that the work is worth it because of the beautiful return. “It started from the inside out, then turned back in to a complete movement” (Harjo), someone once said revealing the importance of poetry in one’s life. The poet that comes to mind when thinking about someone who embodies that message is Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman was an American poet that is considered to be one of the most influential poets of all time. Even though his work wasn’t all that popular at his time due to the…show more content…
At first it seems the poem is all about himself but if you look deeper you see a more complex message seen through his interactions with others. The piece is quite wordy with fifty two sections in which he uses to jam pack the poem with meaning. Summarizing the poem is not all that easy because Whitman goes through so much, varying in almost each and every line. The poem is written in free verse like most of Whitman’s pieces are. The poem follows no specific structure making it flow simply and naturally. He uses a wide range of figures of speech. “The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me” (Songs of Myself) is one of the many examples of personification in the work which in turn helps reveal the importance of nature. In the poem you see that Whitman felt that we should just follow nature and wherever it takes us. The order of nature is something he believed in and is one of the underlying messages in “Songs of Myself”. In the end of the poem he says that “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love” (Songs of Myself) meaning that after he dies he will go back into nature as his body becomes dirt. His final words talk about how he will be waiting for us revealing that he feels death is not the end but only a stop in his
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