Section 38 of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is a typical example of the poet’s writings. If the reader was to read the beginning half of the section, then the poem would seem depressing and surrender to all possibility to one’s achievement; but as the reader continues, they will discover there is perseverance and self-actualization to the writer’s words. Also, there is a small amount of anaphora in this section by Whitman repeating the words “That I could” (963, 964, and 966). The repetition of I’s throughout the section emphasizes the idea of handling the struggles of a person’s inner doubt. After analyzing section 38 of “Song of Myself”, the main theme Whitman conveyed was perseverance to remain true to one’s self even from receiving doubt from others. …show more content…
Whitman reveals the frustration of the remarks made by these people through the use of exclamation marks. Also, Whitman claims the narrator is “on the verge of a usual mistake”, which shows the speaker is about to let those judgements get to him or her (962). The section describes a defeated person who constantly lets the hurtful words of others impact the way they see him or herself, and these negative thoughts never leave their mind. The “usual mistake” is not the action of people doubting the narrator, it is the fact that the narrator allows the words to dictate the thoughts they have of