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Hazzaz Al Abtahee Nijhum (17151002)

Assistant Professor Most. Farhana Jannat

ENG- 4731

27 April, 2021

Exploration of the Concept of ‘I’ in Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself’

Introduction

Walt Whitman arrived on the American literary landscape during a period when

Americans were trying to forge a sense of national identity. Whitman's exploration of himself is

America's discovery. Whitman adored the land and its citizens, and he loved traveling around the

region, singing the praises of its natural beauty and prosperity, the resilience of its people, the

pioneer spirit, and the enthusiasm for creating a new nation founded on a new principle of

individual independence and vision. The exploration of potential on the American continent is

tightly related to the discovery of potential inside himself, and vice versa. Whitman and America

have a spirit of liberty, discovery, individuality, and freedom. Whitman's poem may definitely be

interpreted peripherally, yet even a short examination of Whitman's verse shows that there is far

more to what the speaker means than a literal archiving of observation and memory. He

perceives the radiance of body and spirit, subject and substance, existence and death, and, above

all, love in the framework of his complex meditation. His' Song of Myself ’provides a glimpse

into Whitman’s search for self-discovery. This work seeks to explore the concept of ‘I’ in Walt

Whitman's ‘Song of Myself’.

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Objectives

Specific objective:

• To explore the concept of ‘I’ in Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself’

General objectives:

• To classify this journey of selfhood

• To attempt a new angle oriented around the transpersonal standpoint

Research Questions

• How does Walt Whitman's' Song of Myself 'offer an insight into Whitman’s quest for

self-discovery?

• How can the ‘journey of selfhood’ in ‘Song of Myself’ be classified?

• How does the distinction between 'I' and 'you' blur to become one in the journey of

selfhood?

Literature Review

Daiches, in his work ‘Walt Whitman: The Critical Heritage', says, sensation for Whitman

was not merely a bridge between the self and the external world; it was a method of learning to

know the external world from inside, so that it ceases to be external and becomes part of one’s

self.
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According to Carlisle and Underhill's paper, 'The Uncertain Self: Whitman's Drama of

Identity,' the self perceives an additional significance and reality in all-natural things: it is

frequently convinced that it has finally discovered "the secret of the world." In Blake’s words in

‘Exploring Whitman’, ‘the doors of perception are cleaned’ so that ‘everything appears to man as

it is infinite’.

Bazalgette in his work, ‘Walt Whitman: The man and his works', says Whitman’s secret

of power is identification. Since everything emanates from the universal soul, and since his own

soul is of the same essence, he can identify himself with every object and with every person

living or dead, heroic or criminal. Thus, he is massacred by the Texans at Goliad, he dies on the

cross and rises again.

Theoretical Framework

To accomplish the objective of understanding Walt Whitman’s 'selfhood path,' it must be

divided into four phases. He became conscious of himself in the first phase; his sense of himself

expanded in the second stage to include the souls of all human beings; God included in the third

stage; and in the fourth he embraced the whole cosmos. Walt Whitman seems to be doing a lot to

make friends with his readers. To enable them to have the same experience as Whitman, and to

blur the distinction between ‘I’ and ‘you’. In reality, Walt Whitman encourages others to join

him in his quest for self-discovery. In ‘Song of Myself’, which comprises all people and

locations from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, the 'I' is enthralled by meanings. To be more

significant in his transpersonal travel, the vision of the poem as a means of universally

expressing his ‘self’. Whitman is finally deeply associated with the infinite as a divine mind

manifests itself. And as this understanding reaches its extent, there appears a passionate

conscience.
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Discussion

The development of selfhood in Whitman's' Song of Myself 'acts not only for Whitman's

himself but for all ourselves as a confession and testament. His own self is a societal metaphor.

The poet is not a self-idolizing speaker who claims to be illuminated by himself; he performs a

symphony that takes as individual notes the whole human race. Whitman's interpretation is all-

round practice because it has general concerns. He becomes conscious of his own life in the first

stage; in the second, his self-concept extends to the souls of any human being; in the third, it

incorporates God; and in the fourth, it includes the whole world.

Whitman invites readers to join him on his journey of self-discovery from the start, while

also establishing a primary atomic connection: ‘I celebrate myself and sing myself/And what I

assume you shall assume, /For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you’ (Whitman).

In the path of selfhood, the difference between ‘you’ and ‘I’ blurts into becoming one.

Whitman believes that every individual has spiritual and magical power. As Eliot says, 'It is not

the privilege of the few but can be found by extending oneself into others, and then into God.'

Whitman approaches the universe from a basement and invites others to get up and discuss

alongside him the mysterious — the unknown being to realize his own self. James Miller says of

Walt Whitman: ‘His self-celebration is a warning to any individual that their own selfishness is

to be discovered.’ Whitman believed that everyone is capable of self-realization. The ‘ordinary’

is the ‘divine average’ in his self-domain because of its capacity for self-realization. In an

anonymous study of Leaves of Grass in 1885, Whitman himself indicated his motivation for

concentrating on the self in his poetry: ‘Other poets hold great incidents, people, romances,

battles, lust, emotions, successes and power, or any actual imaginary incidental, polish their work

and reach conclusions and entertain readers.’

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The ‘I’ in ‘Song of Myself’ is enraptured by the senses, embracing all people and places

from the Atlantic to the Pacific. More central to his transpersonal flight is his view of the poem

as a means of universally expressing his' self.’ In essence, Whitman's goal is to erase or disregard

all geographical and temporal boundaries in order to bring forth the true spirit of humanity.

Whitman's individual being is acknowledged to be the center of the entire universe. Whitman's

imagined individual is finally attuned to the infinite as a manifestation of cosmic consciousness.

And when the depth of this realization is attained, there is a surge of fervent comprehension. The

phrase ‘God is Love’ appears to be wishful positive thinking; from the standpoint of mystical

consciousness, love, in all senses of the word, imbibes everything.

The self enters a kind of mystical state in the first stage of its development in order to

become conscious of itself. Whitman enters that state through physical contact with the outside

world: ‘I loaf and invite my soul, /I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass’

(Whitman). The poet lies down on the grass and waits for his soul to appear. The words ‘loaf’

and ‘lean’ imply that such an experience is possible for each and every individual, while the

word ‘ease’ encapsulates his serene, relaxed, and casual mood of festivity at the sight of a single

spear of summer grass. The spear of summer grass here represents the fact that the mysteries of

existence are not contained in far-fetched objects, but in the common and familiar. The poet's

mystical journey begins when he makes contact with the spear. The soul is the beloved who is

invited to lie down and loaf on the grass with the lover, the body.

In this case, the erotic imagery of laying together is a metaphor for the mystical

copulation of the soul with the body, which provides spirituality to the self. Whitman uses

natural elements to express his mystical ideas. The physical world is what leads him to the

metaphysical world. He learns from nature and understands God through self-knowledge.
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Whitman identifies himself with nature's fundamental generative forces, the life force that unites

all into one creative whole, through physical energy. Whitman expresses his joy through his

senses. The ecstasy of his physical sensations has him enthralled. Daiches states, ‘Sensation for

Whitman was not merely a bridge between the self and the external world; it was a method of

learning to know the external world from inside, so that it ceases to be external and becomes part

of one’s self’.

The union of the soul and the body results in an experience that grants the seeker with

intuitive knowledge. Whitman employs a lot of sexual imagery to describe his identification and

eventual ecstatic union with his soul, and then with the Universal Soul. It's interesting how ‘Song

of Myself’ starts with ‘I’ and ends with ‘you’. It's as if he discovered the key to overcoming

duality in his life by merging with the unity that underlie all creation. Because the soul and body

can have mystical experiences when they are joined, they should not be separated. They can have

a vision of God if they work together.

This ascension into the mystical state introduces the self to a revelation of and

participation in the larger dynamics of the cosmos. Through the miraculous power of love, the

self is drawn into union with others, much like gravity pulls everything together. He believes that

external expression is the key to understanding the inner world through the evolving mechanism

of love, as Rumi interprets the universe and its evolution to be the process of love. In fact, 'love'

becomes the sole agent of transformation: 'The smallest sprout demonstrates there is really no

death/All goes onward and nothing collapses outward'.

Conclusion
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The poem starts with self, returns frequently to self, and then loops back to self at the

end, forming a loop of circles. The final lime shows that his sense of infinite selfhood is not

special, but more universal. It's not just his song; it's both of them.In the first part, he instructed

the reader to believe what he assumed, and in the last section, he promised that he would one day

discover the unbounded self. Whitman's spiritual experience can be seen as a transition from

'intrapersonal' (a body-soul union) to 'interpersonal' (a feeling of oneness and human embrace) to

'transpersonal' (having a vision of the Higher Reality). Whitman draws and re-draws and re-

draws' myself boundaries in ever-increasing circles, encompassing humans, animals, time, space,

and God throughout the poem. Being able to absorb the whole universe inside himself, he can

create a complicated analogy of divine government that, like himself, can contain the whole

world. This requires unrestricted self-expression. The poem's liberation is often expressed in his

verse. Whitman avoids the regularity of his bold, free verse pattern. His broad, erratic lines are

rumbling on and on, each verse proclaiming freedom from those ancient, confining regimes. The

verse's liberation is only one example of how strongly Whitman views the liberty movement in

general, with the pledge that all living beings are made free and fair. This is the true essence of

democracy. Whitman sees self as a phase, like all existence and knowledge, and truth as a steady,

all-encompassing flood. Whitman's self-appeals more because of its consistency. Whitman saw

life as an endless procession. He couldn't see a way out of this relentless march, no port where

his own ship could stop. Self-discovery is to be regarded as ongoing, and this search never

ceases.
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Work Cited

Anderson, W. T. “The future of the self: Investigating the postmodern person.” Proceedings of the

2015 International Conference on Economy, Management and Education Technology,

2015, doi:10.2991/icemet-15.2015.98.

Bazalgette, L. “Walt Whitman: The man and his works’” Meta, vol. 56, no. 3, 2012, pp. 526–537.,

doi:10.7202/1008331ar.

Underhill, Young. “The uncertain self: Whitman’s drama of identity’” The British and American

Language and Literature Association of Korea, no. 124, 2017, pp. 1–19.,

doi:10.21297/ballak.2017.124.1.

Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself by Walt Whitman.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version