Analyze the Song of myself according to the presentation and scholarship - Essay Example

in Sections 5, 6, and 7 of “Song of Myself.” When people have connected to their souls, they will know the truth about life, where life is only happy and meaningful through the body-spirit union and the existence of equality through spiritual bonds and the life-death cycle. The epic form of the poem enables Whitman to write in a narrative and conversational manner to his audience, drawing them to the reflective nature that he needs to unite with them. As an epic poem, Whitman does not use rhymes and speaks in the natural rhythm of his speech: “A child said, What is the grass?

fetching it to me with full hands” (91). His poem does not have rhymes, but his work has natural rhythm, as if directly narrating to his audience, as in traditional epic form. The impact is an intimate conversation, where he reveals his innermost beliefs and stories about human existence. Furthermore, the epic form allows Whitman to preach his spiritual beliefs, specifically the union of body and soul, in an episodic manner. The original structure of the poem does not have sections, and instead, the stanzas explore themes in different ways, such as narration and metaphors.

The grass, in particular, is critical to his poem because of its metaphor of people’s equality in their life-death cycle and pervasiveness in the world. In order to emphasize these themes, he asks people to listen to him, to be relaxed and to let him tell his story without distractions. Whitman demands full attention to his narration: “Loafe with me on the grass—loose the stop from your throat” (76). To loafe is to relax and to lose the stop indicates the further call to remove all distractions that come from pure bodily needs.

Whitman calls his audience to remove themselves from their daily goings and to fully submit to his poetry. Whitman uses descriptive language to further unravel the bodily self that finds fulfillment through a meaningful connection to the soul. People can only find happiness when