Teaching Philosophy and Materials
Whitman, "Song of Myself"
In line 6 of "Song of Myself," Whitman writes that he was "Born here of parents born here." As our course is concerned with the ways in which people are included or excluded from the "mainstream" of American society, in different ways, what do we make of this claim to "nativity" by Whitman? Also, given his attitude about the diverse American people, why does he make such a statement? Does it lend a certain ethos to his "Song"?
In the second section of the poem, Whitman explains that he will "go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked." The editor of my version of "Song of Myself" refers to this as a reference to Whitman's conviction that lived experience was paramount, far preferable to experiences only gleaned from books. In a way, then, Whitman is establishing an "everyman" persona, a common man who is nevertheless enlightened, not through book-learning but through everyday lived experiences. The editor of my volume draws a connection here to Wordsworth, in that Whitman here seems to suggest that nature is the greatest teacher, not books; nature can bring to any man willing to experience it an epiphany. We might think of this as rather proletarian of Whitman. He seems to indicate that every American can learn through experience and that people should free themselves from a feeling that they need to learn "things at second or third hand" (as he argues later in the section). The last line of section two is an instruction to "listen to all sides and filter them your self." So, he calls on his readers to be independent thinkers, to emerge from beneath a specter of political and social "culture" that pronounces beliefs that the "untutored" should avow. He totally rejects this idea. While his poem is called "Song of Myself," he indicates that it is a model for all kinds of "songs" that others might make for themselves. He invited people to emancipate themselves from proscribed commandments and cultural trends of thinking and behaving.
Whitman exhibits this liberation in his poetic form. We discussed form in class. He strived for freedom, and there is quite a bit of poetic liberty in his work, especially when compared to older verse. But to what styles and structures is he allegiant?
Among people and in describing his own body, Whitman wants to disavow accepted hierarchy. He explains in line 58 the importance of loving every part of the body; he continues to expand outward, as in his profession in line 94: " . . . all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers." In line 137, he sings "I am the mate and companion of all people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself." Soonafter this declaration, we begin to meet all of the various people Whitman has met and seen, such as the "trapper" and the "red girl" he marries. He speaks of freed slaves; he later speaks of the "kept woman" and the "venerealee." His poem is populated by numerous kinds of Americans and all of them Whitman proclaims to embrace. But, in class we discussed his lines concerning the "runaway slave" who "sits next to him at table." He cares for the man, feeds and bathes him, and comments at the conclusion of the section that, all the while, "my fire-lock lean'd in the corner." Some of you read this line as Whitman's pronouncement that he was at total ease, as he didn't even stir his weapon from rest (it too is in repose). Other students reads this line in the opposite way, that he mentioned his "fire-lock" as an indication that his weapon was there if he needed it. Based on what else you know of Whitman's attitudes as presented in this poem, what is the most likely meaning of this line?
In all, what sort of ethic does "Song of Myself" offer? In Whitman's America, who belongs? Does anyone not belong? What kind of culture does he display and what kind does he support and dream of? Does Whitman write from any kind of margin?
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