Perseverance In Walt Whitman's Song Of Myself

Hope and perseverance are values that are needed for any people who are facing challenges in their lives. This is especially true in naval combat, where the blink of an eye can mean the difference between life and death. Even when things seem bleak, hope and perseverance can help people push through and become victorious. This is especially clear in Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, where the perseverance of the crew leads them to victory, when defeat seemed certain. In Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself: 35”, the “never give up” theme is shown through the use of imagery, naval jargon, and situational irony.
First, the vivid imagery used illustrates the theme of perseverance, and how the sailors became victorious. Near the beginning of the poem,

After much fighting, and retaliatory attacks by the narrator’s unit, he abruptly states that “One of the pumps has been shot away, it is generally thought we are sinking” (Ln. 28). In this situation, “pump” refers to a bilge pump, used to remove water from the bilge, lowest part of the boat, between the hull and the lowest deck. This is critical, as without a bilge pump, the boat is going to sink quickly, so extreme levels of persistence and hard work are needed to fix this problem, and still win the battle going on above deck. Further on, when the tides began to change for the speaker, he reports that “Two well serv’d with grape and canister silence his musketry and clear his decks” (23). This is in reference to a grapeshot cannon, which shoots several smaller projectiles rather than one large cannonball. Even under threat of sinking, the gunnery crew took the time to load the cannons and launch a counterattack, their tenacity led them to victory. Without knowledge of this poem’s naval jargon, the full story couldn’t be told, and therefore, the theme would be hard to decipher as the poem wouldn’t even be