ed “Leaves of Grass” as “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America has yet contributed (“Whitman, Walt 639) .”Although Whitman produced many books of poetry and prose, “Leaves of Grass” contains most of Whitman’s “classics.” If one would want to examine the mind of Walt Whitman, the best place to start is the amazingly crafted “Song of Myself.” This poem seems to embody every aspect of Walt Whitman and possibly every aspect of each person in the world. The poem practically screams the theme of independence and interdependence: everything in the world is related to everything, yet they all live exclusively of one another. An example of this contradiction can be shown in these two stanzas: “I exist as I am, that is enough, if no other in the world be aware I sit content, and if each and all be aware I sit content (Whitman 59) ,” and, “…and these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them, and such as it is to be of these more of less I am, and of these one and all I weave the song of myself (Whtman 54) .”Throughout this poem Whitman discusses many different types of living and non-living things and their jobs or places in the world, such as a farmer, bugle, an abolitionist, and a regatta. He uses these many examples, about 150 lines dedicated to this cause in the poem, to signify his feelings that all things are important and play an important role in the world. “…The bugle calls in the ball-room, the gentlemen run for their partners, the dancers bow to each other, the youth lies awake in the cedar-roof’d garret and harks to the musical rain… (Whitman 51) ”, shows how Whitman may use a seemingly insignificant example, like a bugle or dancers, and find considerable importance within it.4.Walt Whitman printed his second edition of “Leaves of Grass” in 1859, which failed, and a ...
