Question 1
Since “Selected Poems” is a wide collection of Walt Whitman’s poems, this essay narrows down to the analysis of one poem, “Song of Myself”. To begin with the meaning of grass in the poem, I think it symbolizes people. In the second stanza of “Song of Myself”, Whitman writes, “I loafe and invite myself… I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.” Evidently, Whitman was referring to his self. He viewed himself as being a unique being from other individuals. Just as grass grows from the soil, people were also formed from the earth.
Question 2
I think Whitman’s poems are more difficult from traditional poems such as “Psalm of Life”. The reason is that Whitman’s poems are his ideas, written in a language that he himself understood best. It requires a lot of critical thinking to understand the message. On the contrary, a poem such as “Psalm of Life” can be clearly understood to be talking about death, and the poet seemingly wrote it with the audience in his mind.
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Question 3
Whitman’s free verse.
Repetition
“ Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore,
Twenty-eight young men and all so friendly;” (Section 11)
Ideas - The poet emphasizes that despite the young men being many in number, they were peaceful and carried along very well, contrary to the common assertion that there is always chaos in crowds.
Speaker -poet (is an observer)
Rhythm and sound devices -Repetition has been used to bring out a regular rhythm
Image -the mental image that is built is that despite there being many people, there is peace contrary to the believe that there is chaos in numbers
Parallelism
“ Kindling a fire and broiling the fresh-kill’d game,
Falling asleep on the gather’d leaves with my dog and gun by my side.” (Section 10)
Ideas - after the poet roasted the meat and ate to his fill, he slept at the spot
Speaker -poet (who has become a hunter)
Rhythm and sound devices - There is a regular rhythm at the beginning of the sentence and the words “kindling” and “falling” are used at the beginning of the sentences to make them begin with the same tone.
Image - There is satisfaction and comfort. After the speaker eats roasted meat, he falls asleep by the warm fire
Catalog
“ My dinner, dress, associates, looks, compliments, dues” (Section 4)
“ Battles, the horrors of fratricidal war, the fever of doubtful news, the fitful events;” (Section 4)
Ideas - The meaning of the first line is that after dinner, the poet dresses up and most likely goes out with friends who appreciate his looks and most probably pay him for performing. The second line talks about the fearful thoughts that run through the speaker.
Speaker - poet (the self)
Rhythm and sound devices - the list of items create a regular rhythm in the poem
Image- activities and doubts
Whitman still talks about his self and the daily activities. The first line creates a regular rhythm because most of the items are in plural.
Question 4
Other examples of Repetition, parallelism, and catalog in “Song of Myself”.
Repetition
“ Have you reckon’d a thousand acres much? Have you reckon’d the earth much?” (Section 2)
“ Have you practis’d so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?” (Section 2)
Parallelism
“ The big doors of the country barn stand open and ready,
The dried grass of the harvest-time loads the slow-drawn wagon,” (Section 9)
“ If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,” (Section 17)
Catalog
“ Echoes, ripples, buzz’d whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,” (Section 2)
“ The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old and new,” (Section 4)
References
Whitman, W. (2012). Song of myself . Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications.
