Close Reading Week 5, "From Song of Myself"

   For week five I chose to do a close-reading on the poem, "From Song of Myself" By: Walt Whitman because I liked how Walt described the detail of what it was like for him to see his own country to be at war with each other. Walt Whitman was an American who was a famous poet during the time of the Civil War. He was born into a very patriotic family with a father who even named two of his sons George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. His families patriotism definitely rubbed off on to him because he ended up looking up to President Lincoln with a great aspiration, where he decided to join the Union as a volunteer medic because he supported the cause of a stronger country. Much of his poetry had to do with the Civil War along with life and death because it was something he seen all around him during those dark times in America. The poem itself has to do with what Whitman was feeling around this time and what he was witnessing happening to the men of his country combating one another. A specific stanza that I think summed up the reality of the Civil War and Walt's attitude on the war was when it says, " I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise, Regardless of others, ever regardful of others, Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man... One of the Nation of many nations, the smallest the same and the largest the same,..." (Pg.449). This quote alone shows that Walt was aware of his actions but not sure as to if his actions were the proper way of fighting the countries conflict. The last sentence of the quote is what gives the real insight to how it would feel if we were in his shoes and to see your neighbor, father, brother, and in general a fellow American at war with each other. I think this poem has a few different themes but I believe that the poem  would be best represented by war, because the Civil War is his inspiration of this poem. What stood out the most to me in this poem is the second part of the stanza to the quote that I did not include. In the second part of the stanza he goes on to mention different states and the type of people entering the war. He described different statesman joining the war and having to choose a side such as a Texan leaving the south to join the Union rather than joining the confederates as other southerners were doing. The poem stood out to me because in the world today it would be hard to think of fighting a war against fellow Americans. Reading this poem was interesting because it made me think of what's going on today with our country and the disarray between the people from both sides of our countries political spectrum attacking one another because of their political parties views, more than ever. I found this poem really interesting because in a way I feel I could relate with Walt for it seemed he would rather see a country united as one rather than separated between the two conflicting sides of Confederates and Union soldiers. Overall I really enjoyed this poem and I think it showed how conflicted Walt felt in a time of war between his own countries peoples.

Whitman, Walt. "From Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology World Literature Volume E. Ed. Puchner, Martin, Suzanne Akbari, Wiebke Denecke, Vinay Dharwadker, Barbara Fuchs, Caroline Levine, Pericles Lewis, Emily Wilson. W. W. Norton & Company, pp. 446-453