I Am He That Aches With Love Analysis

The poem "I Am He That Aches With Love" is a poem written by Walt Whitman. So whenever we read poems or really just anything we can have several different ways of interpreting what the poem actually means. We can look at it from the literal way where everything that is written down is actually what Whitman wanted us to read it as. There is the Everyman view point that has the main character be a common every day man. There is a Christianity and Spiritual viewpoint where the things in the poem are symbolic in the stories and symbols of religion or God. There is also an American view point where Whitman just writes about America. When we look at "I Am He That Aches With Love," "I am he that aches with amorous love;/ Does the earth gravitate? does not all matter, aching, attract all matter?/ So the body of me to all I meet or know" (Whitman). When we first look at it from a literal point, we see that Whitman identifies himself as a man who urges for sexual love and satisfaction. He then asks whether the Earth has a gravitational pull and if matter attracts matter. He then offers his body to any one he meets or knows. This could be said that since all matter is attracted to matter, that he is attracted to all people since they too are matter. From this we can conclude that when he offers his body to anyone he meets, he is offering sex to them as well. From the literal meaning, this poem is very sexual. When we look at this poem from the Everyman view point, we see that the "I" in the poem is the average citizen and this average citizen wants sexual love or satisfaction. And from being attracted to everyone they want to offer their body to any one they may meet. This citizen could be any one, and in from this viewpoint, the meanings of both the literal view point and the Everyman view point are the same except Whitman's role is now switched with a common man. When we view "I Am He That Aches With Love" from a Christianity and Spiritual view point, we could say that the "I" is God. And this sexual feeling of love represents religion. Because all matter is attracted to all matter, then we can say that God is offering religion to any one it meets or knows. This is generally true for religion and God as it is offered to any one of any class, race, or sex. So when we switch from a literal or Everyman view point to a spiritual view point, we can see there is a different meaning to it. Viewed from a Whitman America view point, "I Am He That Aches With Love" is seen once again as a totally different meaning. The "I" represents America and the sexual love could be the American Dream. So America has this feeling of offering anyone (other people) this American dream. At this point in time (1891-1892), America saw one of its greatest immigration totals ever. Millions of people were coming to America.


Whitman, Walt. "I Am He That Aches With Love." The Walt Whitman Archive. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. .