SONG OF MYSELF

 Walt Whitman

WALT WHITMAN ( 1819 - 1892 ) the people's poet is perhaps the most individualistic literary figure that America has ever produced he began working as a carpenter before his twelfth birthday he also worked as a printer teacher and editor and was volunteer nurse during the Civil War Whitman poetry all of which is collected in Leaves of Grass is known for its free rhythms and lack of rhyme Whitman first published it at his own expense in 1855 However the free form of the poems and the joyful dedications to the importance of the individual were not well received at first in fact his collection of poem cost Whitman his job as it was taken to be obscene in 1881 after many editions Leaves of Grass finally found a publisher willing to print it uncensored Translations of this collection were enthusiastically received in Europe but Whitman remained relatively unappreciated in America it was only after his death that he could win appreciation in America for his original and innovative expression of American individualism His important works include Leaves of Grass ( 1855 ) and Drum Taps ( 1866 ).

SONG OF MYSELF

I celebrate myself , and sing myself,

and what I assume you shall assume,

for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass my tongue, every atom of my blood form'd from this soil, this air,

Born here of parents, born here from parents the same and their parents the same,

I now thiry seven years old in perfect health begin,

Hoping to cease not till death,

Creeds and schools in abeyance,

Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are but never forgotten,

I harbour for good or bad , I permit to speak at every hazard,

Nature without check with original energy.