Literary Devices in Song of Myself

Section forty-nine begins with the first of several apostrophes, or addresses to things or beings who are unable to respond in the moment. The speaker first speaks to Death, insisting that it is “idle” for it to attempt to “alarm” him because both life and death will always repeat in an endless cycle. Therefore, death is not the end of life—just as birth is not the beginning of life. Two stanzas later, he speaks to the Corpse, whose material remains will be used as manure to fertilize the ground and nourish new forms of life. Finally, Life is spoken to as “the leavings of many deaths,” as opposed to being the opposite of death.

A “fluke” is the tail fin of a whale. However, a fluke can also refer to a metal hook on the end of a weapon or a triangular blade on the anchor of a ship. Whitman’s imagery suggests that a whale that has been harpooned and is struggling as “spasms and spouts of blood” bleed into the water. In the next stanza, the speaker urges the “bloody flukes of doubters and sullen mopers” to “be at peace,” thus implying that they have been psychologically harpooned.

The exclamation of the word “hoot” is an example of onomatopoeia, or a word that, when spoken aloud, sounds like the thing it refers to. Here, the sonic quality of the verb “to hoot” enhances the imagery of the detailed scene that Whitman describes.

Whitman subtly weaves irony into his continued cataloguing of the bloody battles that helped shape the United States during its early history. Generally, irony is a device, event, or situation in which things appear to be different from what they actually are. Here, Whitman describes battles that seem to be invested in unifying or bringing the United States together as a nation. Yet, ironically, the battles themselves resulted in divisiveness and death for all involved. Therefore, from the perspective of the universal self, which loves everyone equally, such battles promote the exact opposite of unity.

Whitman juxtaposes the lengthy catalogue in section thirty-three with the short, graphic description of the Battle of the Alamo in section thirty-four. Juxtaposition is a device in which who opposite things are placed side-by-side in order to emphasize their differences. Whitman uses juxtaposition here in order to make the tragedy of the massacre all the more shocking and impactful on the reader.

Both of these lines are end-stopped lines, meaning that they conclude with punctuation—in this case, a comma and a period. Nearly every line in “Song of Myself” is end stopped, thus creating a start-and-stop rhythm that encourages readers to pause at the end of each line. As a result, Whitman maintains a contemplative and serious tone that places emphasis on small details that are easier to catch when the flow of the poem is slowed.

These two lines use antithesis in conjunction with parallelism. Antithesis is a device juxtaposing different concepts, usually in order to point out the relationship between them or to highlight the characteristics of one by placing it alongside its opposite. Whitman uses antithesis to emphasize that the binary relationship between the opposite concepts of body and soul, pleasure and pain are imaginary—they exist together within the universal human self.

The first two lines of section twenty-one feature parallelism, or the repetition of grammatical structures within a line or series of lines. The speaker’s assertions that “I am the poet of the Body” and “I am the poet of the Soul” are identical grammatical structures. Similarly, his statement that “the pleasures of heaven are with me” and “the pains of hell are with me” contain the same grammatical structures. In both cases, the repeating structures are joined by the coordinating conjunction “and.” Parallelism enables Whitman to further emphasize the relationships between opposites such as the physical and spiritual or pleasure and pain. Neither is superior to the other, nor do they exist without the other.

This stanza features parataxis, a literary device in which short, simple clauses or phrases are placed beside each other so that each carries equal importance. Whitman employs parataxis repeatedly throughout “Song of Myself,” creating the effect of details piling on one other. Here, the speaker invites readers into a sensory experience that is made more intense by the onslaught of details that pile up as the stanza progresses.

Whitman’s evolving description of grass is an example of symbolism, a device in which something is used to represent something else. Grass symbolizes multiple abstract concepts throughout the poem. A single blade of grass represents an individual in society, which constantly renews itself through numerous people’s lifespans. Grass as a larger quantity also symbolizes death, as the speaker imagines in the sixth section that the grass beneath him is the hair of dead people buried underground. Ultimately, as suggested in this line, grass represents the cycle of life, death, and hope—as well as humanity’s close connection with nature.

These two lines are enjambed, meaning that they contain a phrase that continues past line breaks into subsequent lines. Whitman periodically uses enjambment to vary the poem’s rhythm and create a sense of anticipation. Given that many lines in “Song of Myself” are end-stopped, enjambment noticeably speeds up the reading process.

Section 16 begins with two paradoxes. A paradox is a statement that appears to contradict itself but upon closer analysis contains an element of truth. Here, the phrases “I am of old and young” and “of the foolish as much as the wise” are both paradoxes because a person presumably cannot be both old and young or foolish and wise at the same time. However, as Whitman suggests, the universal human self that transcends the temporary individual self encompasses the diversity of humanity. Therefore, this divine self can be contradictory things at the same time.

The immediate repetition of the pronoun “Me” in these two lines is an example of epizeuxis, or the repetition of a word with no intervening words in between. Such intense repetition in this context emphasizes the individual yet universal perspective of “Me” while also extending the repeating assonant “ē” sound.

These three lines contain assonance, or the repetition of vowel sounds. By repeating the vowel “ē” sound in the words “eat,” “sleep,” “week,” “week,” “cheapest,” “nearest,” “easiest,” “Me,” and “Me,” Whitman encourages readers to dwell on the speaker’s experience of merging with various wild and domestic animals. Whitman again suggests that the universal self is part of nature, so it is natural for the speaker to spend weeks eating and sleeping among animals as equals.

This line contains alliteration, or the repetition of sounds among words in a group. Whitman’s rapid repetition of the hard consonant sound “c” in “coarse,” “clear,” and “clothes” lends a musical yet slightly overwhelming quality to the poem’s rhythm, while also reinforcing the poem’s tone.

This is a rhetorical question, or a question that is posed for some other reason aside from receiving an answer. Whitman asks many rhetorical questions throughout “Song of Myself.” Here, his speaker inquires whether or not it is actually lucky to be born—but the question raised is meant to encourage the reader to examine their own assumptions about life and death, rather than to obtain an answer.

Whitman’s speaker initially personifies the grass in his puzzling attempt to answer the child’s question. Personification is a device in which human characteristics, including feelings and behaviors, are attributed to nonhuman things. As the sixth section progresses, however, the grass becomes a metaphor for the human condition—particularly the cyclical renewal of life throughout the ages.

The first two lines of the sixth section each contain a caesura. A caesura is a break within a line of verse, often in the form of punctuation. Here, interrupting each line with a question mark both varies the poem’s rhythm while also encouraging the reader to reflect on the questions posed by the child and Whitman’s speaker.

Whitman uses a metaphor, or a device comparing two different things by stating or implying that they are the same, when he calls love “a kelson of the creation.” The noun “kelson” is a variation on “keelson,” a crucial structure extending above the keel of a ship so as to strengthen its framework. Whitman’s speaker suggests that this love is so powerful and pure that it strengthens the connection between his soul, God, and every other person in existence.

The repetition of the coordinating conjunction “and” in this line is an example of polysyndeton. Polysyndeton generally involves the repetition of coordinating conjunctions including “and,” “but,” and “or.” Often, the repeated words appear when they would otherwise be omitted in order to emphasize important words or to organize a lengthy list of items. In this case, Whitman uses this form of repetition to represent the universal self’s ability to flow freely into the physical self. The interaction between the soul and the body means that both are “clear and sweet.”

These three lines feature anaphora, or the repetition of words at the beginning of successive lines or phrases. Whitman frequently uses anaphora to vary rhythm while also providing a sense of order and structure to the poem’s many lists. Here, the repetition of the words “have you” invites the reader—in a rather forthright way—to pay attention to the questions posed by the speaker.

The first line of “Song of Myself” contains a diacope, which is the repetition of words with a minimal number of intervening words between them. By repeating “myself,” Whitman establishes rhythm and musicality from the outset. Further, the second mention of the speaker’s selfhood hints at the existence of two separate versions of the self—which, throughout the poem, consist of the individual self and the universal self.