Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself is a poem which attempts to liberate both the poet and reader from the restraints of convention by thoroughly exploring and emphasizing transcendentalist beliefs of a common soul or spiritual state, known only in an individual’s intuition, which encompasses and goes beyond the materialistic and physical world. “I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (27). To Whitman, the self is both personal and universal. Every person is an individual with their own identity and own idea of their self, however, the world also maintains the idea of a unified, universal self, in which everything is indistinguishable and interconnected.

And I know that the hand of God is in the elderhand of my own,

And I know that the spirit of God is the eldest brother of my own,

And that all the men ever born are also my brothers…

and the women my sisters and lovers,

And that a keelson of the creation is love;

And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields,

And brown ants in the little wells beneath them,

And mossy scabs of the wormfence, and heaped stones, and elder and mullen and pokeweed (30-31).

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The idea that God is everywhere and that there is no difference between God and the self illustrates the belief that all things are equal; all things are a part of God. Even the most commonplace objects, such as leaves, ants, and stones, contain the infinite universe. When asked “What is the grass?” (31) by a small child, Whitman examines the object in question on a symbolic level. He sees the grass in the child’s hand not only as a symbol of rebirth in nature, but also as a common material linking all people together—the ultimate symbol of democracy. “Growing among black folks as among white, Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same” (31).

In the section of the poem where a woman is watching twenty-eight young men bathing in the ocean, imagining herself as the invisible twenty-ninth, Whitman perfectly outlines the paradox of transcendentalism.

Where are you off to, lady? for I see you,

You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.

Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather,

The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them” (36).

Experiencing the world comes from immersing yourself in it; however, you must also be far enough away from every situation to have some perspective, and invisible enough not to interfere with it extensively. Being able to find this balance seems impossible, yet Whitman optimistically accepts it as part of the ubiquitous universal plan.

The transcendentalist ideal that we are all a part of the same matter or energy is the essence of not only this poem, but also of Whitman’s consciousness as a whole. He sought to surrender to the senses and celebrate them. It is this ideal which allows Whitman to see the beauty in all things and the need to appreciate and enjoy everything—from a blade of grass to breaking waves. Admittedly, imperfections fester everywhere in the world, however, the universal self assures that evil is part of a natural design and everyone will has a chance for fortune and happiness in their next life.