Walt Whitman Rhetorical Devices

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Some people may accuse Walt Whitman, of being an egotist. Whitman is not an egotist, he is not overfocused on himself, but on all of humanity. In poem number 1, I celebrate and sing myself, he is not only focusing and celebrating himself, he is celebrating life and all humans. Whitman says, “And what I shall assume, you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as well belongs to you.” In this line Whitman is explaining how we are all the same, we all come from the same place, from the same ancestors, and we will all return to the earth in death. “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same”. In the poem 6, A child said what is the grass? Walt Whitman is not focused on himself but the grass and what it really is. Whitman does not know anymore than the kid knows about the grass. Whitman says the grass could be “the handkerchief of the Lord,” “a uniform hieroglyphic,” or “the beautiful uncut hair of graves.” Whitman talks about the grass, saying “It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men… It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps.” He also states in this poem that us humans, we really …show more content…

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.” Whitman also revisits his idea about what happens to people when we die and how we go away and all end up back in the same place. When Whitman gets old and as he dies, he says “I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun”. He also shows how even though he seems dead he really isn’t, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.” Whitman says that if you're missing someone, search somewhere else because they always “stop somewhere waiting for

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