“What is commonest and chapest and nearest and easiest is Me,

Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,

Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,

Not asking the sky to come down to my goodwill,

Scattering it freely forever.

The pure contralto sins in the organloft…”

-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855) p. 39

Contralto refers to the deepest singing voice a woman can have and is in between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano in terms of range. Contralto singers are usually referenced in terms of Opera even  though they are rarely used since most female parts call for much higher singing voice. When contralto singers are used they are typically given the parts that were originally intended for castrato singers.

The use of this reference gives a very dramatic feel to the stanzas which surround it while also giving some sexual ambiguity. The fact that most contralto singers sing the parts of castrated men gives an odd picture of sexuality and identity which it seems Whitman was a huge fan of . Furthermore, If you listen to a contralto singer singing something like “Ebarma Dich” while reading through the bottom of page thirty eight and thirty nine you get a a feeling of somber happiness. I feel that this audio helps to give another dimension to the many images that Whitman presents to us in Song Of Myself.

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