Description

One of the most self-revealing poems in literature, Song of Myself is an entrance to an understanding of Walter Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) ,an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist. It is a poem of 52 sections of long lines, each section a paragraph introducing a turn in the thought. The poem begins with an assertion challenging contemporary and earlier literature ,which Whitman regarded as "class poetry" representing a world where literature had spoken only for the exceptional man, not for the simple , separate person or the "en-mass". In other words, he wants to be voice of democracy being the representative of the "divine average". The self dramatised Walt Whitman sees himself in all people and in all life, and feels intense, passionate love for such beauty.