Whitman's Self Reflection

In Walt Whitman’s writing and poetry, we see him search for his inner being; who he believes he is; his inner Self. As Matt Longabucco puts it, with Whitman, “This self is deeply split and not defined by circumstance” (Longabucco). This search for the definition of his Self is exemplified in his poem, “Excelsior”. In “Excelsior” we read Whitman asking questions of the people around him and he is saying he is the most cautious man in the world, or the proudest man in the world. It is hard to be all of these things at the same time, but he is searching for the definition of Self. He does not know which man he really is; he is just saying he is all of these things.
WHO has gone farthest? For lo! have not I gone farther?
And who has been just? For I would be the most just person of the earth;
And who most cautious? For I would be more cautious;
And who has been happiest? O I think it is I! I think no one was ever happier than I;
And who has lavish’d all? For I lavish constantly the best I have;
And who has been firmest? For I would be firmer;
And who proudest? For I think I have reason to be the proudest son alive—for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city;
This is a great example of how Whitman is in the process of searching for his definition of Self.
For Whitman, poetry were the songs of his life. He spent a majority of his lifetime writing poetry about the things around him, himself, and what he felt. When we read “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd," Whitman creates this beautiful image of an outdoor scene. He describes basically a country farm scene with the picket fence and the tall grass growing around it. Then he focuses on lilacs, which are both symbols of death and new life. We see lilacs at both baptisms and funerals. He talks of how he envies death; “With loaded arms I come, pouring for you,/ For you, and the coffins all of you, O death” (Whitman, “When Lilacs”). In this poem, we read of sadness he feels, and you kind of get this feeling of depression because it is written for Abraham Lincoln, who was dead. “Then with the knowledge of death as walking one side of me, /And the thought of death close-walking the other side of me,/ And I in the middle, as with companions, and as holding the hands of companions,” (Whitman, “When Lilacs”). This establishes the acknowledgement that he knows eventually he is going to die. He knows he is on life’s path with death closing in on him and he just is calling for the lilacs to bloom so he can join Abraham Lincoln and God in heaven.
In “As I Watch’d the Ploughman Ploughing,” we see a huge symbolic reference that is even pointed out to us. We read,
AS I watch’d the ploughman ploughing,
Or the sower sowing in the fields—or the harvester harvesting,
I saw there too, O life and death, your analogies:
(Life, life is the tillage, and Death is the harvest according.)
We are once again presented with an image of both life and death. I believe by seeing this poem, Whitman had a strong feeling of death. Since death is the harvest in “As I Watch’d the Ploughman Ploughing,” we can also believe that with death, comes the fruit of your labor, as is corn or beans to farmers. Whitman might have believed that once he died and passed on to the next world, he would be rewarded with great things, like farmers were with money and food. This is a big part of what I believe Whitman painted as his Self. Whitman may have been a spiritual man who wanted to see the Lord and heaven.
According to Harold Bloom, Whitman’s Self was composed of, “my soul, my self, and the real me or me” (Bloom). “My soul” is his spiritual self. In Whitman’s world, spirituality was huge and God was a part of every person, meaning Whitman too, was God. As a collective whole, the human race was God. This is why we see so much spirituality in his poems, because Whitman was a spiritual man. “My self” is his personality. This how he acts on a daily basis. We see this through his writings and the various moods he is in. One day he could be happy, and his poems are happy; one day he could be sad, and his poems are sad. The “real me” was others perception of Whitman. This is who Whitman actually was and what other people thought of Whitman. These three components are what made up Whitman’s Self.




Longabucco, Matt. "'The Proof of a Poet'—Walt Whitman and His Critics." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. . Web. Feb 23, 2011.
Bloom, Harold. "Bloom on Walt Whitman." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. . Web. Feb 26, 2011.
Whitman, Walt. "As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing." . Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
Whitman, Walt. "Excelsior." . Web. 23 Feb. 2011.
Whitman, Walt. "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d." . Web. 23 Feb. 2011.