Song of Myself

Sing Ruby Siu
English 48B
March 13, 2009
Journal #20 Walt Whitman

QUOTE:

“They are alive and well somewhere, the smallest sprout shows there is really no death” (34).

SUMMARY:

In section seven of “Song of Myself,” there was a kid asking Whitman “what is the grass?”, and the poet kept thinking about how to answer this properly and wisely. First of all, he regarded this a question he could never give a better answer than the kid, because the poet obviously did not study very deeply about the scientific composition of the grass. Later, he made a metaphor to compare the grass to the “handkerchief of the Lord” because of its wonderful aromas and shape. He made another metaphor saying “the grass is itself a child” because both of them are babies of the respective creatures. At the very end of the section, Whitman proposed that grass was just like generations and generations of human races, who were all young at first, and then they grew old and were replaced by others.

RESPONSE:

Whitman praised the diverse qualities of grass as he made several positive metaphors with it. He implied the various qualities of grass, and, most importantly, Whitman saw “the grass is a symbol of the divinity latent in the ordinary” (Cliffnotes). By observing one of the commonest vegetation on earth, Whitman easily put the grass together with the holy figures to imply its impotent and divine nature. This can remind the readers to appreciate everything in nature, as the majestic power of Gods is sometimes captured by some insignificant objects. This reminds me of the creation scene of Genesis in the Bible. Whitman could see how people became detached from the devoted admiration toward God’s creations, and therefore he created this poem to emphasize that everything on Earth was divine in nature. Also, even the commonest creatures in the world possess some immortal characteristics and traits, human beings are definitely highly empowered.

By comparing grass to babies and generations, Whitman wished to bring up the discussion of life-cycles. Firstly, Whitman was talking about the nature of the universe and he wanted to reassure people about the nature of death. Since old grasses are frequently swept out by wind or they wilted naturally, newly grown grasses are to replace them. The process has been around for long, and we too consider the life-cycles of grass trivial. Similarly, human races function in the same way but with a slower pace. People are born and will die some way or the other, just like the grass. Whitman here alleviated people’s fear toward death. Since we can foresee the consequence of our survival, we should neither be afraid nor surprised of death. He wanted to say that the vast universe will only recognize the importance of one species, but not one individual. As a human being, we are part of the race, but we ourselves should not place too much false emphasis and expectations onto our individual lives. We should place emphasis on the united power of human beings because our race will not die, or at least will live much longer than one. Last but not least, by presenting the “strong-willed” grass that grows and died eternally, Whitman made a reference to the human races, who would sustain till the end of the world.