When I was first introduced to literary analysis of poems in high school, one of the first things that I was taught was to examine the form. Meaning was frequently extracted from meter, rhyme scheme, punctuation, etc. And so I sat down to read “Song of Myself” in the same way.
However, try as I might, I wasn’t able to find many of the formal elements I would consider to be characteristic of poetry. Repetition certainly abounds, such as in Section 15, where almost every line begins with “the,” but what I found most interesting was the rhythm that Whitman creates within his free-verse poetry without the crutch of a formal structure or rhyme scheme. In Section Four he writes “The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old and new,\ My dinner, dress, associates, looks, compliments, dues,…” (69-70). What jumped out at me was the sound that “dates,” “discoveries,” “dinner,” and “dress” make. The hard consonant at the beginning adds emphasis, which then gives the lines a distinct beat. I find this unique, free-style rhythm that Whitman creates to be quite interesting, and I would love to hear him read it out loud. I found a recording of him reading four lines from “America,” but to my knowledge there is no recording of him reading “Song of Myself.”
The lack of form is indeed a defining trait of Whitman’s poetry, but also the way he creates rhythm and great-sounding lines within those free-verses. I can see why, knowing his background with Emerson, Whitman does not like to conform to traditional poetic structures. It does bring up the discussion of whether one should know and master the rules of an art form – from literature to painting to filmmaking, before breaking them?
Thank you for the info on the recording; I went looking for it and gave it a listen. He seemed to be on a moving train and was probably at least 60 when he recorded it since it couldn’t have been before 1877. The slow pacing fits America well, but I too would love to hear him read Song of Myself the way he meant for it to be experienced.
This was also something I noticed while reading the poem. There seemed to be pockets of repetition, but nothing that really stuck. I felt like the theme of connection tied everything together more than the form. In this case, while the form is not cohesive, the poem seems to be making a point about connection between a person and everything around them. I always find it interesting when poems content and form have contradictions.
This is really interesting, as the lack of form in this poem also shows where Whitman’s literary allegiances lie. Poe said that the ideal length of a poem for the popular or critical taste is about 100 lines, yet “Song of Myself” is more than ten times that number. This suggests that Whitman is not writing for the popular or critical taste, yet another, more universal, lasting taste, which is something that Emerson would suggest. Emerson also wrote that form should come after the idea of a poem, and Whitman very clearly focused on expressing ideas rather than sticking to a specific a form.