Song Of Myself

Song Of Myself

"Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream

at my eyes,"

"That they turn from gazing after and down the road,

And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent,

Exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two, and

which is ahead?"

"I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the

beginning and the end,

But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

There was never any more inception than there is now,

Nor any more youth or age than there is now,

And will never be any more perfection than there is now,

Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now."

"I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the

beginning and the end,

But I do not talk of the beginning or the end."

Overall.....

He's basically saying (if it wasn't apparent) while everyone else thinks about their past and their future constantly, he chooses to live in the now. This also plays in with religion where people are wondering if they go to heaven or hell. Nothing past or present will be more than what you're doing right now at this very moment. Carpe diem y'all.

• “And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent, Exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two, and which is ahead?”
• In the second part of the question, whitman asks what the value is of focusing on the past and/or future and how it compares to looking at his present?
• This last line, a rhetorical question, asking if he should ignore everything he knows, just to go along with society.

Section 3

• “Shall I postpone…..That they turn from gazing after and down the road,”
• This is the first part of a complex question whitman asks. It can be simply put as him asking if he should be like the “talkers” who talk mainly of the beginning and the end
• Whitman is one who focuses on the present which influences the future(end) and doesn’t worry about the past since nothing can be done about it
• After, beginning= past
• Down, end= future
• He is "screaming at his eyes"because they are forced to look at unimportant earthly things instead of the divine.

"There was never any more inception than there is now,

Nor any more youth or age than there is now,

And will never be any more perfection than there is now,

Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now."

• In this line Whitman is writing about people who talk about the past and the future all the time instead of the present. (ex: religion)
• He also says that he is not like those others that talk of the past and future,he only talks about the present because he knows about the present.
• Yes, this aggressively sweating guy is what initially reading this poem felt like.

“Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.”

• This lines means that everything that has been here and nothing new has or will be created.
• It is also talking about how the world will not get any better, or any worse. This is how it is going to be and how it always has been.
• We should accept the world as it is because this is all we're ever going to have at one given moment.

• Nothing could be better or worse at this time
• Better- Heaven
• Worse- Hell
• And the TIME to BEGIN is NOW!
• Anything could happen and result in heaven/hell
• He is NOW realizing the importance of his actions and life in his results of where he will end up

“Nor any more youth or age than there is now,”

“And will never be any more perfection than there is now”

“There was never any more inception than there is now,”

• More things are starting, or beginning now than ever before.
• Inception- the beginning of something
• Everything is just now beginning
• “Now” is a fragile moment of life & present which is the moment in which we live.
• Whitman is finally beginning his life. He is realizing all the opportunity out there for himself

• “I’ll be able to complete it better when I’m older”
• Whitman is contradicting this common phrase in this line
• He is saying, right now is the time of perfection to complete your tasks.
• And as you grow older, you could come upon an illness or injury, and wish you could’ve done different things that you never got to do & can’t now because of the injury and illness.
• Therefore he is trying to say now is the time so you won’t have any more regrets later on.
• Saying: “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take”

• Many people say these phrases
• “It’ll be better when I’m older”
• “I’m too old to start now.”
• Whitman is saying, “why don’t I start now?” ; I still have time to get things done that I want to accomplish.
• You're never to old to JUST DO IT !!!! says Shia LaBeouf

when walt keep talkin about the same damn thing

By: Daniella, Rachel, & Mike

The poem Song of Myself had its name changed through a time period:

• No Name (1855- First Edition)
• A Poem of Walt Whitman, an American (1856- Second Edition) and Walt Whitman (1860- Second Edition)
• Song of Myself (1881- Third Edition

that glo up tho

The title, Song of Myself, indicates that a major theme of the poem is individualism, or the individual spirit.

when he wants you to be your own person but society nowdays is like "nahh"

Song of Myself is written in Walt Whitman's famed free-verse style. Hence there is no specific rhyme schemes, form, nor meter.

when walt gives you a break by writing with no rhyme schemes

"Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age,

Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while

they discuss I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself."

"Urge and urge and urge,

Always the procreant urge of the world.

Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always

substance and increase, always sex,

Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed

of life."

• He is admiring himself because he is celebrating his being
• “They”sit and discuss while Whitman goes out and takes action
• While “they” are talking about the past and future, Whitman focuses on the present, he lives his life
• In this line Whitman is saying that if we only look at the good things and not the bad, we will never improve.

• This one is talking about how as humans we have the urge to make more and have human urges in general (think 7 deadly sins). He's calling the human race ignorant because were always putting things in boxes (?) and just taking and making more more and more.

"Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man

hearty and clean,

Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be

less familiar than the rest."

• “Opposite equals advance”
• Also speaking about men & women. Saying that both should have equal rights, in the 1800s.
• Equality = advance

reading for the 2nd time and still not knowing shit

reading these lines for the first time like

• “Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean, Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile….”
• Whitman is describing how man is born naturally good, and how not even a “particle of an inch” is born evil
• Whitman is saying that he is completely welcome. Body & Soul
• Whitman is saying that he welcomes his whole body including his soul. And any man whose heart and soul is clean
• He is saying that all of the particles of his body are friendly and good and he shall know every part of himself

• “Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of life.”
• For Whitman, it is also about having his identity asserted and feeling alive.

Main Idea

Overall Theme: LIVE IN THE PRESENT. (this is where it all happens)

Biographical References

Walt Whitman, as a child with 8 siblings on Long Island and Brooklyn in the 1820s-1830s, was taught literature at a very young age of twelve. He loved the craft and idolized many famous writers like Shakespeare. He worked with other well-known Transcendentalism artists and was influenced by them. During the Civil War, he aspired to live a "cleansed life" and took care of the wounded in a hospital at Washington D.C. in 1862, initially caring for his brother. His care for other people lead to him expressing his ideas through his poetry.

From "Clear and sweet ..... sing;"

There are various instances where Whitman adds concrete imagery:

• As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the night, and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy tread,

There are also some abstract imagery in the poem. A paradigm of this includes:

• Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of life.

• We are back to our heaven and hell motif! In religion, it's said that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. What makes one bad? People always ask themselves. He has accepted all of himself, his good and bad parts. He has taken them all into consideration and he is happy. No one is a bad person really is what he's saying.

when walt makes you think about how you're

going to hell

"I am satisfied — I see, dance, laugh, sing;

As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side

through the night, and withdraws at the peep of the day

with stealthy tread,

Leaving me baskets cover'd with white towels swelling the

house with their plenty,"

when it took a hell of a lot to get to this conclusion

• Whitman is happy to be with his “bed-fellow”
• He feels loved
• The “bed-fellow” leaves early and stealthily. This makes it seem that the relationship is hush-hush
• Could this be an affair or is the fellow a man?
• The baskets may be baked goods/bread
• Whitman was also known as a poet of Romanticism and that includes poems that celebrate oneself. Whitman is satisfied and celebrating himself in this line.
• Whitman was actually believed to be a homosexual, so this bed-fellow was actually a man that would hug and love him, then sneak out as soon as the sun comes up.
• White is the symbol of purity and towels clean and dry stuff so maybe this was telling Whitman that he needed to purify himself.

felt like this at first

a lot of times felt like this

but ended nicely surpisingly

had to take a few breaks

and this

Walt Whitman was known for his poetic style of Romanticism (an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement of the 1800s-1850s that focused on the appreciation for nature, human emotions, and all subjective things known to man) and Transcendentalism during his career. Both styles are evident in Song of Myself.

Some metaphors in the poem include:

• Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul
• Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of life
• Stout as a horse (simile)

"To elaborate is no avail, learn'd and unlearn'd feel that it is so.

Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well

entretied, braced in the beams,

Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,

I and this mystery here we stand."

• “Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well entretied, braced in the beams,”
• He’s sure of himself
• “Plumb in the uprights”-
• “Well entretied” - well being
• “Braced in the beams”-

• “To elaborate is no avail, learn’d and unlearn’d feel that it is so .”
• Elaborating won’t help someone understand
• It’s something you can’t explain
• Educated or uneducated, everyone can feel it

"Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is

not my soul.

Lack one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen,

Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn."

• Whitman is saying that there's no use in elaborating in something because all everybody wants to do is procreate
• Whitman says that he is sure that people are going to be stronger like a horse when they are connected like an electrical grid and show love for each other
• The mystery he is talking about is the mystery of how to figure out how to get everyone connected so they can work together and love each other.

• “Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical, I and this mystery here we stand.”
• Whitman is comparing himself to the mystery he’s been speaking of
• They are both strong, affectionate, superior, and exciting

thoughts while reading this part ^

• “Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.”
• Souls are clear and sweet because they have part of the over-soul inside of them.
• Everything not his soul is clear and sweet because everything is connected
• He uses antithesis to emphasize this by saying that everything that is not soul, is not clear and sweet.
• This line is saying that Whitman himself thinks everything as clear and he sees it this way because his soul is clear and sweet.
• Whitman is saying that right now we have actual bodies that are seen, but when we die we don't have these bodies, but there is still proof of our existence because of our urge to procreate.
• “Lacks one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen, Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn”
• Everything comes full circle
• Past, which is the unseen, is proven by what is seen, which is the present. It describes how it’s a cycle of the present becoming the past, and one lifetime’s existence is proven by others’.

let's just say it took a lot for us to get to this point