When talking about Song of Myself in class the other day, I kept recalling how sensual and erotic much of his language was. Section 5 stands out with its descriptions of an apparent old lover. Whitman recalls “how you settled your head athwart my hips and gently turn’d over upon me, / And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunge your tongue to my bare-striped chest” (87-89). Although we discussed in class how this would have been at least somewhat uncommon at the time, and was another thing that set him apart from other poets at the time, I kept thinking of far earlier poets who went beyond what Whitman describes and more fully embrace the erotic. The Earl of Rochester, John Donne, and Katherine Philips all leap to mind.

Although Whitman uses this erotic or sensual language to further distinguish himself from the typical conventions of poetry, it is at the same time calling back to earlier poets. I find this a really interesting example of originality, because where he does break with his lack of form or rhythm, he still remains connected to the larger history of poetry. I just thought this was an interesting connection.