leaves of

             In 1917 Marcel Duchamp grabbed a urinal, removed it from its normal setting, titled it "Fountain" and called it art. By placing such a ordinary, simple object in this inventive context, Duchamp raised a new realization of the urinal and of art. Its familiarities dissolved as it was seen as art, as sculpture, as a statement, or as a ludicrous joke. Regardless of the response, the urinal ceased to be ignored or taken for granted. This act of taking the common and making it foreign by forcing people to take it differently and to look at it in a new way is a technique employed by Walt Whitman in Song of Myself. Although his methods and topic could not be more unlike Duchamp's, both artists are comparable in their basic act of deconstructing and making foreign something that is so commonplace that it is never contemplated.
             The idea of self is something that appears to make sense at first but loses its implication rapidly upon meditation. Most people cannot separate the idea of self from their individual personalities. "Define yourself," a person could be asked, and they would most likely reply something close it "it is me, who I am, myself." It does not take long to see the dilemma. The idea of self is rooted in the daily, but it is so intangible that it cannot be classified. The same can be true of almost anything, and it is enough to make one mad looking at each object that environs them and asking "What is it?" However, this widespread questioning is unfeasible, impractical, and unnecessary. In the breaking down of something as basic as self, it is unavoidable that other basic ideas are busted down as well. Walt Whitman understands this in his Song of Myself, where, in questioning the idea of self, he questions other connected ideas such as the body, death, and the association between the individual, others, and nature. By using vivid, suggestive language to address questions that are basically unanswerable, contradicting himself, an...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
leaves of. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 22:33, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/17555.html