What is Song of Myself about? Walt Whitman’s long poem is a celebration of the self, but not a selfish one. Whitman uses “I” to speak for everyone: every body, every worker, every soul, living and dead. The poem argues that each person is part of everything else and that ordinary life, down to a blade of grass, is sacred. Read the full text of Song of Myself on Poetry Catalog.
Short Answer
Song of Myself is about the connection between one person and the whole world. It opens with “I celebrate myself, and sing myself,” and the next line explains the catch: “And what I assume you shall assume.” The speaker’s self is meant to include the reader. Over 52 sections, the poem embraces body and soul, men and women, rich and poor, life and death, and ends by telling the reader where to find the poet: in the grass, under your boot-soles.
What Happens in the Poem
Song of Myself has no plot, but it does move.
Opening (sections 1–5). The speaker lies on the grass, “observing a spear of summer grass,” and invites his soul to join him. He sets aside “Creeds and schools” to speak directly from nature and experience.
The grass (section 6). A child asks, “What is the grass?” The speaker admits he does not know, then offers guesses: a flag of hope, a handkerchief of the Lord, a “uniform hieroglyphic” growing equally among all people, and “the beautiful uncut hair of graves.” The grass becomes the poem’s central symbol of shared life and of death turning back into life.
The great catalogs (middle sections). Whitman lists people, jobs, places and scenes across America: farmers, sailors, mothers, enslaved people, soldiers, city crowds. He claims to be all of them. In section 24 he names himself directly: “Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son.”
Body and soul. He declares, “I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,” refusing to rank one above the other.
The ending (sections 51–52). He admits his contradictions: “Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” Then he sounds his “barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world,” dissolves into air and earth, and closes with a promise: “I stop somewhere waiting for you.”
The Main Themes
The democratic self. Whitman’s “I” is a container for everyone. If he is equal to every atom, so are you. That is the poem’s idea of democracy.
Body and soul as equals. Whitman treats the physical body as holy. That openness shocked many readers in the 1850s.
Death and renewal. Through the grass, the poem presents death as part of a cycle. The dead feed new growth, so no one is really lost.
Nature and ordinary life. The sacred is found in everyday things: grass, work, bodies, streets. “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,” he writes.
Context
Whitman (1819–1892) published Song of Myself in 1855 as the untitled opening poem of the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a book he paid to have printed. He kept revising both the poem and the book for the rest of his life. The poem was given different names in different editions and took the title “Song of Myself” in 1881. The version on our page is the later text, divided into 52 numbered sections.
The poem’s long, unrhymed lines were new in American poetry, and its frank treatment of the body made it controversial. Its confidence and openness made Whitman one of the most influential poets the United States has produced.
How to Read It / Where to Start
Song of Myself is long, so do not try to read it straight through on a first visit. Start with these sections:
- Section 1 for the opening promise
- Section 6 for the grass
- Section 24 for Whitman’s self-portrait
- Sections 51–52 for the contradictions, the yawp and the farewell
Read some lines aloud. The long lines are built on repetition, especially lists that begin the same way, and they gather force when spoken. When the lists feel endless, remember that the length is the point: Whitman is trying to include everything.
FAQ
What is the main message of Song of Myself?
That every person is connected to every other and to nature, and that ordinary life is sacred. The “I” stands for all of us.
What does the grass symbolize in Song of Myself?
Shared, equal life and the cycle of death and rebirth. Whitman calls it “the beautiful uncut hair of graves.”
What does “I contain multitudes” mean?
That one person holds many selves, opinions and contradictions. Whitman embraces contradiction instead of hiding it.
How long is Song of Myself?
In its later form it has 52 sections and runs to well over a thousand lines, making it Whitman’s longest single poem.