If you read “Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855”, you would notice that Whitman sees Democracy as something very important because the richness of the country is in the common people, not in the people with important charges. Their customs and manners are what define the United States. They accept their past and what they have produced and created. There are many states that are proud of themselves but they also respect other states and they work together for a common goal. The largeness of their spirits complements the largeness of the country. Thus, the complexity of the United States is like a great poem. Having a big territory, wealthy cities and commerce is just as important as having poets. Tangible actions have the same importance as all poetical creations.
The diversity of the country is personified in the poets and they must be able to cover all topics and all the events from past and present, but they have to be transcendent and not just describe things. They have to do it in way where they do not increase or decrease the beauty of what they observe, but instead act more like a channel. Poets must also learn from the past to create a future and see beyond that.
Poets are important to the country because they encourage democracy and they judge things with equality and without prejudice. “They [Poets] are the voice and exposition of liberty.” (Whitman, 2003; 342) They see what is great in simple and complex things and in any kind of person, poets and writers in general commit themselves to people’s welfare. They represent the full potential of people; they are not better than anyone and anybody can be as good as them if they want to.
A poet must care about the earth and natural things and not about material stuff. They must be good to all the people and treat them equally. Also, they have to be curious and be ready to question anything they know.
In “Leave of Grass”, democracy is shown as a way of life that people should live as only one nation, irrespective of different borders, ethnicity, etc. We are all humans, and we have to live in comradeship. Walt Whitman “wants us to know that no matter what our life situation, no one is inherently better or worse than anyone else.” (Starmack, 2014)
Furthermore, the role of the poet is represented as the voice who invites us to live in fellowship. This voice tells us we are not only equal, but also unique, in the sense that we can experience happiness, pain, sadness, hope, but in brotherhood. These feelings are felt in community and not individually.
According to Whitman in “Song of Myself”, we are equals, we have the same rights as other people and our origin is the same origin as every human being, for instance, the next stanza from the “Section 1” shows this idea:
In the first verse of the poem there is a notion of individuality, in the sense of uniqueness, but it also has a notion of comradeship and democracy. The atoms are actually genes that make us what we are, it means that we are part of this universe as human beings and we should behave as one.
In the following text, which is Section 17, there is another notion of equality and democracy:
The diversity of the country is personified in the poets and they must be able to cover all topics and all the events from past and present, but they have to be transcendent and not just describe things. They have to do it in way where they do not increase or decrease the beauty of what they observe, but instead act more like a channel. Poets must also learn from the past to create a future and see beyond that.
Poets are important to the country because they encourage democracy and they judge things with equality and without prejudice. “They [Poets] are the voice and exposition of liberty.” (Whitman, 2003; 342) They see what is great in simple and complex things and in any kind of person, poets and writers in general commit themselves to people’s welfare. They represent the full potential of people; they are not better than anyone and anybody can be as good as them if they want to.
A poet must care about the earth and natural things and not about material stuff. They must be good to all the people and treat them equally. Also, they have to be curious and be ready to question anything they know.
In “Leave of Grass”, democracy is shown as a way of life that people should live as only one nation, irrespective of different borders, ethnicity, etc. We are all humans, and we have to live in comradeship. Walt Whitman “wants us to know that no matter what our life situation, no one is inherently better or worse than anyone else.” (Starmack, 2014)
Furthermore, the role of the poet is represented as the voice who invites us to live in fellowship. This voice tells us we are not only equal, but also unique, in the sense that we can experience happiness, pain, sadness, hope, but in brotherhood. These feelings are felt in community and not individually.
According to Whitman in “Song of Myself”, we are equals, we have the same rights as other people and our origin is the same origin as every human being, for instance, the next stanza from the “Section 1” shows this idea:
1
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
In the first verse of the poem there is a notion of individuality, in the sense of uniqueness, but it also has a notion of comradeship and democracy. The atoms are actually genes that make us what we are, it means that we are part of this universe as human beings and we should behave as one.
In the following text, which is Section 17, there is another notion of equality and democracy:
17
These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands,
they are not original with me,
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or
next to nothing,
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are
nothing,
If they are not just as close as they are distant they are
nothing.
This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the
water is, This the common air that bathes the globe.
These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands,
they are not original with me,
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or
next to nothing,
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are
nothing,
If they are not just as close as they are distant they are
nothing.
This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the
water is, This the common air that bathes the globe.
Walt Whitman wants the thoughts of all men and women be his own thoughts because he wants to be the poet of the common people, “we all have thought these things, but only the poet expresses them.” (University of Iowa, 2012), thus he will be able to represent those thoughts to others if he can interpret them first.
To conclude with, “Walt Whitman's “Song of Myself” is one of the most important poems in the American canon, important for both its use of language and its vision of equality.” (Starmack, 2014)
As a final question: What do you think about Whitman's idea of democracy and equality? How is it reflected in "Leaves of Grass" collection?
How are the notions of democracy reflected in other poems of “Song of Myself”?
References
Starmack, S. (2014). Song of Myself by Walt Whitman: Summary, Themes & Analysis. Retrieved August 20, 2014, from Educational Portal: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/song-of-myself-by-walt-whitman-summary-themes-analysis.html#lesson
University of Iowa. (2012). Walt Whitman— Song of Myself. Retrieved August 20, 2014, from University of Iowa: http://iwp.uiowa.edu/whitmanweb/en/section-17
Whitman, W. (2003). The Portable Walt Whitman. New York: Penguin Books.
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