William McFeely suggests that Frederick Douglass, like Walt Whitman, has written a “Song of Myself” with his slave narrative. Both fairly known in their own time, I am going to look at how they compare and how they are different from each other. Frederick Douglass with his autobiographical slave narrative and Walt Whitman with his poem “Song of Myself”. The question becomes how Douglass creates himself through his narrative and how it compares to Whitman’s self in his poem.
The wish to reach people is clear for both Whitman and Douglass. Whitman states throughout his poem that he is the voice of the world and also gives a sense of preaching and utters his feelings for all to hear him, in the first verse of “Song of Myself” he writes:
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume, you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you" (p. 1024 Baym & Levine S., 2013)
By doing this Whitman introduces himself and at the same time identifies with the reader. He also states that he should be celebrated not only by himself, but also by the reader because they are the same. He also gives off a feeling that his writing is true and good, we get the feeling he is one of us and at the same time a poet. This leads to comparing Whitman with a preacher or public speaker of some sort, he wishes to be
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The most apparent one being that Douglass wrote a slave narrative; as a result, it shows more coherence when moving forward. In the American literary tradition the slave narrative holds a unique position. The slave narrative was written by or in cooperation with African Americans who had found their way to freedom, and were published both before and after the abolishment of slavery. Part of why Douglass’ narrative became so popular was because of its lyrical quality. In some passages, Douglass uses higher language that we would most likely associate with a