Song of Myself

“Song of Myself” is a quintessentially American poem in its incredible diversity of influences. Like the United States itself, “Song of Myself” is a melting pot. As a journalist, writer, and voracious self-learner, Whitman was not only widely read: He recognized this aspect of himself as supremely “American,” and was motivated to weave all his realms of knowledge together into a pastiche of American life. This section will discuss three of the major literary influences on “Song of Myself”: epic poetry, the Bible, and poetic movements of Whitman’s day, primarily Romanticism and Transcendentalism.

Whitman broadcasts his intent to interact with the epic genre in the very first line of his poem: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” The format recalls famous openings lines of ancient Greek and Roman epic poems: Homer’s “Sing, goddess, the wrath of Peleus’ son Achilles” and “Sing to me, Muse, a man of twists and turns” and Virgil’s “I sing of arms and a man.” While Whitman’s opening line immediately situates “Song of Myself” in the epic tradition, he deploys other epic devices too, the most famous being his liberal use of the epic catalogue (for more on