Song of Myself" response

I think your insight that Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is not about egotism is very apt. In fact, Whitman's poem is the very opposite of egotism. You write: "Song of Myself" seems "to focus specifically on himself, as Whitman begins by declaring, 'I celebrate myself, and sing myself' but America for Whitman is about more than simply the glorification of the individual. He also understands the significance of the nation's history as he explains, 'My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same.'" Whitman believes that America is a nation which frees individuals to express themselves, and celebrating himself is, by extension, celebrating America.

Whitman also seems to celebrate the universal 'Self' (with a large S), rather than the personalized, isolated self. The poem is not...
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