From Song of Myself 1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself

from Song of Myself

1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself

by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

• born May 31, 1819
• worked on journalism while traveling the United States
• in 1855, Leaves of Grass was published, but it was strange and new, so it was actually ignored at first (people thought it was too radical and different)

• key elements of his writing:
• free-verse form and flowing lines create rolling rhythms and cadences.
• strong, direct, everyday language that echoes the voices of common people
• focus on diversity of the nation’s people & places & reflects America’s identity
• celebrations of self & nature support themes that explore connectedness of all things

• free verse - poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme (introduced by Walt Whitman)
• cadence - the musical run of words that rises and falls in the lines; long, easy sweep of sound that echoes the Bible and speeches from orators and preachers

• Whitman talked about pretty much everything under the sun, he wanted people to see nature as he saw it.

• even though he was all into this new poetry that he came up with with free verse and musical lines, Whitman still used alliteration (repetition of similar consonant sounds), assonance (repetition of similar vowel sounds), imagery (language that appeals to the senses), and parallel structure (repetition of grammatically similar structures).

from Song of Myself
1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself by Walt Whitman
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
harbor means have & keep in the mind

from Song of Myself
1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself by Walt Whitman
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
means temporary
suspension; inactivity
harbor means have & keep in the mind

from Song of Myself
1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself by Walt Whitman
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
imagery - you can see the grass and guy
repetition
personification - schools can’t retire
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

• creeds and schools in abeyance...

meaning the thought and discipline, like when you’re at school you’re discplined and you have to think

• these thoughts & lessons he’s talking about are gone for now, since he’s relaxing in nature, but they aren’t forgotten.
• the third line says that he is going to speak his mind, no matter what
• the fourth line means that nature is wild and untamed, acting with original energy

He says, “my tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,” Whitman believes that nature and people are connected.
Along with that, he says, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”
He’s connecting people together, saying that whatever he has, he shares. And whatever earth has given him, it’s available to everyone as well.