Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself is, at first glance, a daunting read to
attempt. With 52 strophes of Whitman
talking about what feels like everything, it would be easy to throw in the
towel. However, there is beauty in all
of the strophes, if you look for it.
One
strophe I found compelling was number 7.
I believe Whitman could have stopped after the first stanza: “Has any
one supposed it lucky to be born? / I hasten to inform him or her it is just as
lucky to die, and I know it.” The rest
of the stanza only solidifies his point.
He uses certain word stresses to point out the important. The use of alliteration for “death with the
dying” and “birth with the new-wash’d babe” makes the reader sit up and hear
that line. The beauty of life, to
experience everything from being a child to loving someone, is because it does
not last forever; it ends when we die.
This makes life more beautiful than it would be if we were immortal.
The
other strophe that stood out to me was number 18. I liked this one because it was about music
(hey, I’m a music major!). I think the
idea of celebrating those who lost was beautiful. In history books, we only glorify the great
warriors and heroes, those who make a name for themselves. The people who die on the battlefield without
their names known were just as brave.
The alliteration he repeats in this strophe is “sank in the sea!” He also rhymes the words “slain” and “gain”,
which is a good point to make about the topic he is discussing in this strophe:
in order to gain in wars, there will always be those slain. The last line encompasses it all. “And the numberless unknown heroes equal to
the greatest heroes known!”
Overall,
Whitman speaks about many things in Song
of Myself, but each strophe speaks beautifully and eloquently of the topic. He talks about things that many people don’t,
like death being a good thing, and celebrating the unknown soldiers. These strophes in particular stood out to me,
and made me smile.
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