Walt Whitman's poem, Song of Myself, is one of his most famous contributions to American literature. He uses simile and metaphor, paradox, rhythm, and free verse style, to convey his struggle between the relation of the body and soul, the physical and the spiritual being. He continues to go against all social restrictions of the romantic time period.
             From the beginning, Whitman begins by stating, "What I shall assume, you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you", proposing that the reader listen to him, for he possesses all of the answers to life. The setting is somewhat naturalistic, and offers an image of the speaker, relaxing, philosophizing about life. As the poem later shifts in tone, and setting, Whitman starts to think about the answers to life he has come up with, based upon the past, and decides that the reader should hear him out, one final time, as his ideas have changed.
             Whitman's first stanza begins, "It's time to explain myself...let us stand up. What is known I strip away...I launch all men and women forward with me into the unknown. The clock indicates the moment...but what does eternity indicate? Eternity lies in bottomless reservoirs...its buckets are rising forever and ever, they pour and they pour and they exhale away". Whitman is stating that he wants to tell the purpose of his thoughts. The thoughts that Whitman express are that of power and self-confidence. Whitman has written this based upon his experiences in life. Through these experiences, he has grown to know certain things about life and tries to pass them down to the reader. Throughout the beginning of the poem, Whitman takes the reader by the hand and demands that he follows Whitman and his ideas, because he holds the answers to all questions. But now, he asks the reader to clear his mind of what was said, or forget the past.
             He moves on into the next stanza by writing: We have thus far exhausted t...