Walt Whitman's A Model Of Christian Charity

John Winthrop's sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” takes the form of a biblical scripture to highlight his imagined community that is controlled by God. Winthrop uses the methods of a lawyer in which he asks and answers his questions to create a more serious tone. Two hundred years later in “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman creates a speaker who takes the form of a lively observer that goes through a list of guidelines for a new and much different community. Whitman is using his own vision of society as a lens through which Winthrop's sermon can be compared. Despite both individuals agreeing to have a community with set guidelines; Winthrop idealizes a nation run by a superior being and Whitman believes that society should be made up of individualism and equality.
“A Model of Christian Charity” establishes a representation of a community working together, rather than, working by themselves. With the help of

By having the voice of everyone in the community, the speaker sees no need for the voice of God. Individuals form their community based off of their own needs. Whitman characterizes the speaker as a man who has “suffered” and “was there”... [He is] a hounded slave that flags in the race and leans by the fence, blowing and covered with sweat” (Whitman 1538, lines 826-831). By showing this depiction, Whitman argues that the speaker needs to see himself as one with the lower class. The idea of everyone being equal with each other is vital to the success of the community. Whitman’s notion of equality suggest that everyone plays a vital role in society, even the poor or the disabled. Because of this, they should all be equal as their decisions, judgement and perception affect the community in the same way. The “I” within the poem expands across all nations, all workers and all races. Whitman furthermore goes on to explain the inclusiveness he mentions throughout the poem. The speaker argues