In “Song of Myself” (1855), Whitman celebrates life and regards death as a natural process, whereby the corpses of the dead literally create new life and the souls of the dead move toward some kind of unidentified eternal life.
Death as Natural Process
Whitman begins “Song of Myself” with a positive affirmation of selfhood and the connection between all human beings: “I celebrate myself and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”
Throughout the poem, Whitman celebrates not only himself but all life, including both the natural and human worlds. For Whitman, scenes of ordinary American life are particularly important, and he includes long, encyclopaedic lists describing American society. These lists include both genders, as well as different social classes, professions, ages, and races. Whitman suggests that all life is valuable and deserves to be celebrated.
In the context of this celebration, Whitman views death as a natural part of life. In section 6, he describes the grass that grows over graves and suggests that the corpses of the dead promote the growth of new life. Since the corpses of the dead are transformed into new life, Whitman asserts that there is no death: “They are alive and well somewhere, the smallest sprout shows there is really no death.” Whitman reinforces this idea in section 49 when he refers to corpses as a kind of manure that promotes the growth of sweet-scented white roses and to life as the “leavings of many deaths.”
Finally, he affirms his own place as one of the corpses who will contribute to new life on Earth: “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, if you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.”
Life After Death
In addition to his view of death as a physical transformation into new life, Whitman alludes to the possibility of an afterlife in several sections of the poem. In section 6, he suggests that “all goes onward and outward, nothing collapses.” Although “onward” probably refers to the continuous transformation of death into new life, “outward” seems to suggest the movement of the soul beyond the physical cycle of life and death on Earth.
This concept of outward motion recurs in section 49, when Whitman says, “I hear you whispering there O stars of heaven, O suns—O grass of graves—O perpetual transfers and promotions, if you do not say any thing how can I say any thing?” “Grass of graves” links this stanza back to Whitman’s metaphor in section 6, and thus “transfers” seems to refer to the physical transformation of death into new life. More importantly, “promotions” seems to imply some kind of spiritual advancement.
Whitman does not explicitly describe eternal life in “Song of Myself,” although he affirms the existence of God and suggests that he will meet with God or Christ after his own death: “My rendezvous is appointed, it is certain, the Lord will be there and wait till I come on perfect terms,the great Camerado, the lover true for whom I pine will be there.” For Whitman, it is impossible to express in words his insights about life and death, and the reader must search for his or her own insights. The best Whitman can do for the reader is to insist that some kind of eternal life does exist beyond the physical world: “It is not chaos or death—it is form, union, plan—it is eternal life—it is Happiness.”
Death as Relief and Escape
Despite Whitman’s treatment of death as a natural part of life in “Song of Myself,” he also characterizes death in a way that foreshadows his representation of death in later poems. In section 49, Whitman personifies death as an accoucheur, or midwife, which links the concept of birth with death, and thus echoes Whitman’s metaphor in section 6, where death leads to new life. However, Whitman also marks “the relief and escape” associated with death.
Although in this stanza Whitman does not indicate why death should be a relief or an escape, the depiction of human suffering in various sections of the poem may provide a tentative answer. For example, in section 34, Whitman describes the Texas Massacre of 1836 and, while celebrating the courage of the young men who were murdered, also vividly describes their bloody deaths. Whitman would have been a witness to such carnage in his role as a wound dresser during the Civil War. Perhaps it was his intimate experience with such brutality that contributed to a new perspective on death.
In later poems, such as "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," written after the Civil War of 1861-65, Whitman began to depict death not as natural and transformative, but a bitter sweet escape from the anguish of daily living. In contrast to Whitman’s celebration of life in “Song of Myself,” death becomes something to celebrate because it is a release from human suffering: “Come lovely and soothing death, undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving, in the day, in the night, to all, to each, sooner or later delicate death.”
References
- Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Gen. Ed. Nina Baym. Shorter 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999.
Jennifer McNeil Bertrand - Jennifer McNeil Bertrand is an association professional with a background in English Literature and Communications.
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