Walt Whitman Identity

You are I, I am You, and We are We

Understanding how you identify with yourself, within yourself, and with others in the world is, in my opinion, one of the most important aspects of life. Your identity, not the kind of identity that you physically see, but the identity that embodies all that you are as a person is something that sticks with you no matter where you go in life. This identity not only accounts for both your outer personality that you allow others to see and the inner personality that you keep within yourself but the way in which you allow the world to see you. Walt Whitman’s autobiographical poem “Song of Myself” expresses this theme by discussing his personalities and the ways in which we are connected to one another. For me,

Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is an autobiographical poem about discovering himself, the world around him, and expressing his desire for Americans to be united in their differences and come together as one. Identity is at the forefront of the many themes in “Song of Myself,” therefore it goes to show how important identity is to Whitman and the significant role it plays in our lives. The opening stanza of “Song of Myself,” “I celebrate myself and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every soon belonging to me as good belongs to you,” (Pg. 1330) begins Whitman’s expression of unity and identity. This stanza stands to grab the readers attention and draw in their minds the notion that everything he is about to say is meant to relate not only to him but to the readers as well. The natural world around us plays a large part in the ability to discover our own identities. Whitman uses personification as a means to relate nature to ourselves by saying, “The atmosphere is not a perfume, it had no rate of the distillation, it is odorless, it is for my mouth forever I am in love with it, I will

By understatement, I mean that after reading this poem I found my brain drifting in the thoughts of the aspects of me that make me who I am and how these aspects relate to other. I am to the notion that if we are all created in the same manner, then that must me you are I, and I am You. We are one in the same, we both live to die and die to live. There are mothers and fathers that have come to pass, but in passing have left their sons and daughter to become mothers and fathers all the same. This constant, ever changing cycle of life and death, which then breathes life into the ground, bring us together. First, and foremost, I discovered that we identify as the embodiment of life itself. We are life and all life is different in some way or another. I am a young woman that has both a spirited personality and hunger for the knowledge necessary to be one with everyone. I seek to balance my life in such a way that I embrace both you and me as one and the same. If I had to choose one thing I learned from this poem that most impacted who I am as a person and how I identify myself, I would have to say that discovering my ability to accept myself as I am and the drive to use this ability to change even just a small aspect of the world, stuck with me the most. As Whitman says, “You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, but I shall be good