Song of Myself
Through his poetry, Whitman's "Song of Myself" makes the soul sensual and makes divine the flesh. In Whitman's time, the dichotomy between the soul and the body had been clearly defined by centuries of Western philosophy and theology. Today, the goodness of the soul and the badness of the flesh still remain a significant notion in contemporary thought. Even Whitman's literary predecessor, Emerson, chose to distinctly differentiate the soul from all nature. Whitman, however, chooses to reevaluate that relationship. His exploration of human sensuality, particularly human sexuality, is the tool with which he integrates the spirit with the flesh.Key to this integration is Whitman's notion of the ability of the sexual self to define itself. This self-definition is derived from the strongly independent autonomy with which his sexuality speaks in the poem. Much of the "Song of Myself" consists of a cacophony of Whitman's different selves vying for attention. It follows that Whitman's sexual self would likewise find itself a voice. A number of passages strongly resonate with Whitman's sexuality in their strongly pleasurable sensualities. The thoroughly intimate encounter with another individual in section five particularly expresses Wh
The role of the sexual in his work is integral to this sense of active, individual discovery. " The breadth of his comprehension increases profoundly on both macroscopic and microscopic levels. In the opening to section five, Whitman explicitly articulates that equality in the context of the body and soul: "I believe in you my soul, the other I am must not abase itself to you, And you must not be abased to the other. These two otherwise separate domains of the external and the internal are thus coupled, completing the cycle of the theme of union that Whitman imbues "Song of Myself. " Here, he lays foundation for the basic egalitarianism with which he treats all aspects of his being for the rest of the poem. This association to the cosmos, facilitated by a union of the spiritual and the corporal, is then a direct result of the expression of the sexual self. One of the key truths that Whitman explicitly communicates is the notion of the interconnectedness of mankind. " He expands this revelation of truth and understanding as the passage continues, linking it to divinity as he invokes the image of "the hand of God" and "the spirit of God. This notion of people as blades of grass, same and equal yet distinctly individual, can be extended to encompass Whitman's notion of the sexual self. Whitman's notion that "All truths wait in all things" very broadly defines the scope of his desire to distill truth from his surroundings. Whitman begins his synthesis of the soul and body through sexuality by establishing a relative equality between the two. Human sensuality thus becomes the conduit that bridges the spirit and the flesh. "By projecting his sexual self against such broad parameters, Whitman generates a decidedly transcendental experience.
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Acceptance Essays
