Individuality And Free Verse in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

Forged in the fire of revolution and defined by manifest destiny, America has always been the land of the individual. Although the American dream has not always been consistent, (married with 2.5 kids, 2 cars, a dog and a satisfying job), the spirit of innovation, individuality and progress remains unchanged. The father of free verse, and perhaps the American perspective of poetry, Walt Whitman embodies these values in his life and work. First published in 1855 in Leaves of Grass, "Song of Myself" is a vision of a symbolic "I" enraptured by the senses, vicariously embracing all people and places from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. Sections 1 and 2, like the entirety of the piece, seek to reconcile the individual and the natural world in an attempt to uncover the individual's humanity.

Born near Huntington, New York, Whitman was the second of a family of nine children. His father was a carpenter. The poet had a particularly close relationship with his mother. When Whitman was four years old, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he attended public school for six years before being apprenticed to a printer. Two years later he went to New York City to work in printing shops. He returned to Long Island in 1835 and taught in country schools. In 1838 and 1839 Whitman edited a newspaper, the Long-Islander, in Huntington. When he became bored with the job, he went back to New York City to work as a printer and journalist. There he enjoyed the theater, the opera, and the libraries. Whitman wrote poems and stories for popular magazines and made political speeches, for which Tammany Hall Democrats rewarded him with the editorship of various short-lived newspapers. For two years Whitman edited the influential Brooklyn Eagle, but he lost his position for supporting the Free-Soil party. After a brief sojourn in New Orleans, Louisiana, he returned to Brooklyn, where he tried to start a Free-Soil newspaper (Academy of American Poets). During the Civil War Whitman served as a nurse and his contact with the atrocities of battle later proved to be a driving force in his desire to bring people together in harmony (Ott 1774). After the war, he held various jobs, including government clerk and homebuilder. But it was the decade before the war in which Whitman made the switch between rhymed verse and the radically new, free verse he has so greatly influenced. Leav...

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...y Mulcaire) in which the poet vicariously joins his readers and all past and future ferry passengers. Finally, in 1881, Whitman arranged his poems to his satisfaction, but he continued to add new poems to the various editions of Leaves of Grass until the final version was produced in 1892. Today, Whitman's poetry has been translated into every major language. It is widely recognized as having a formative influence on the work of such American writers as Hart Crane, William Carlos Williams, and Wallace Stevens (Academy of American Poets).

This influence on the future is the result of Whitman's attempt to universalize his poetry. By shedding the shackles of structure and seeking to find intimacy with the physical world, Whitman has broken down the boundaries of culture and time. His vision of humanity, one that embraces the person and the natural world, still inspires the stirring of an alienated individual. Whitman's gift to the world is his poetry, and in essence, Whitman himself. His poetry is the epitome of the American dream; free, wild and personal. His poem, "Song of Myself," is a bridge, spanning the divides of time, to bring us in touch with our own intimate humanity.