Nature and Death in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

Whitman and nature is a very common theme when it comes to discussing his poetry. Whitman discusses nature a lot in his poetry as a means of introducing his readers and listeners to the world they should be imagining, and Song of Myself is no different. This poem is about Whitman himself, and how he views his place in the world. The Song of Myself theme is therefore being, in the sense of being where and who you are. This theme is first brought up in a very literal sense in the first stanza, but it widens after that. The third stanza is where the theme really comes in play, as it shows Whitman discussing who he is in relation to the past and the potential futures he has. Walt Whitman writes poems about nature because that is how he sees the world. His attachment to nature and animals allows him to explore the human condition, and his own self, without ruffling any feathers. If he had simply used humans, and human expressions, the reception to his poetry might not have been quite so open. The animal poems by Walt Whitman give us a new way of viewing the world, and show us how he thinks. Song of Myself is a poem that moves its readers and listeners through its stanzas. The poem starts off describing physical sensations through the use of nature and animals, but it then begins to look inwardly towards emotions and souls, and so looks on towards death. Whitman continues to use imagery of nature throughout his poem as a means to illustrate his own musings about the soul and the nature of death. It allows his readers and listeners to better connect with what he is saying. He also deliberately contrasts the scenes of nature that he uses, in a number of ways. Sometimes Whitman compares the scenes of nature to each other, in order to better create a contrast between what he is saying in one part of the poem versus another part. Sometimes he contrasts the nature descriptions with the words of the poem itself, as if to make the audience pay attention to his words through the jarring nature of his imagery versus those same words. Whitman uses his imagery to great effect – he is creating a picture for people to see through his poetry, and so uses the words of nature to great effect. He can manipulate people’s emotions and though...