I. “Song of Myself #6” by Walt Whitman a. Overview i. At the ...

Gabrielle Rieser Period 1
I. “Song of Myself #6” by Walt Whitman
a. Overview
i. At the beginning, a child has full hands of grass and questions, “What is the grass?”. Walt Whitman does not
directly know how to answer but starts to deeply ponder the purpose of grass. Whitman realizes the multiple
representations of grass and the ties it has to the people, nature, and the universe as a whole. He also displays
grasses’ connection with the deceased and his positive view of death.
b.
“A child said What is the grass? Fetching it to me with full
hands;”
“How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is
any more than he.”
“I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of
hopeful green stuff woven.”
“Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,”
A child asks what grass is.
Whitman is unsure how to answer this child’s question
so he begins to ponder it deeply.
Grass is a symbol of our hopeful nature.
Grass is a reminder of God.
“A scented gift and remembrance designedly dropt,” Grass is a gift from God.
“Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that
we may see and remark, and say Whose?”
“Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of
the vegetation.”
“Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,”
“And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow
zones,”
“Growing among black folks as among white,”
“Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the
same, I receive them the same.”
Whitman wonders who the grass truly belongs to and
who’s its owner.
Grass is the child of all plants.
Grass symbolizes the equality of all people and things; it
grows the same everywhere for everyone.
Grass grows everywhere no matter the space given.
Grass grows the same for everyone, it is not bias
towards race.
Grass grows the same for all different groups of people
and ethnicities.

Gabrielle Rieser Period 1
“And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of
graves.”
“Tenderly will I use you curling grass,”
“It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,”
“It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,”
“It may be you are from old people, or from offspring
taken soon out of their mothers’ laps,”
“And here you are the mothers’ laps.”
“The grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old
mothers,”
“Darker than the colorless beards of old men,”
“Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.”
Grass grows from the graves beneath the ground and
represents the dead.
He will treat the grass carefully and respectfully since it
comes from those who have passed away.
Grass may grow from the grave of young men.
Perhaps if he had met the people in these graves, he
could have grown to love them.
Whitman displays the unknown of who lies within these
graves, could be the old or the very young.
Grass could also grow from the laps of mothers.
Compares the grass’ dark color to the white hair of the
old mothers that could be in the graves.
Compares the grass’ darkness to the white hair of the
old men that could be in the graves.
Since grass comes from the mouths of the dead,
Whitman compares the grass’ dark color to the redness
of the dead people’s mouths.
“O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,” Grass comes from the mouths of dead people like
tongues.
“And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of
mouths for nothing.”
“I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young
men and women,”
“And the hints about old men and mothers, and the
offspring taken soon out of their laps.”
Whitman believes there is an explanation as to why
grass comes from the mouths of the dead.
He wishes he could speak to the people in the graves
and understand them.
Whitman is once again showing the variety of people

Gabrielle Rieser Period 1
“What do you think has become of the young and old
men?”
“And what do you think has become of the women and
children?”
“They are alive and well somewhere,”
“The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,”
“And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not
wait at the end to arrest it,”
“And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.”
“All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,”
“And to die is different from what any one supposed, and
luckier.”
who could be in the graves.
He wonders where the young and old men are and what
they are doing (wondering if afterlife exists).
He wonders where the women and children are and
what they are doing (wondering if afterlife exists).
He believes the dead are still a part of our universe.
The fact that grass grows from the dead shows that
death does not exist and that even from death comes
life.
Although, if death does exist, it does not end life but it
leads life forward.
The moment a life ends is also the moment another life
begins.
Life goes on.
Whitman expresses his positive view of death and his
belief that death is not as bad as it seems.
c. Literary devices
i. Symbolization- used to show grass’ relation to people, nature, and the universe.
1. “Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,”
2. “Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.”
3. “Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,”
4. “And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.”
ii. Allusion- used to convey the idea of diversity using examples of different groups.
1. “Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same.”

Gabrielle Rieser Period 1
iii. Imagery- used to create a mental picture in the mind of a reader.
1. “Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.”
iv. Parallel Structure- creates a satisfying rhythm used to emphasize key points in a poem.
1. “It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps,”
v. Repetition- reiterates a certain point to draw emphasis.
1. “The grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.”
vi. Alliteration- used to call attention to a set of words or make a sentence smoother.
1. “The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,”
d. Tone
i. Hopeful and optimistic attitude is shown. Walt Whitman displays his positive view of death so there is no
sense of sorrow or idea of mourning. Instead, Whitman is just curious of the lives of the deceased and wishes
he could have known them.
e. Theme
i. The positive view of death and the idea that perhaps it is not as bad as people believe it to be. That even in the
event of a death, life goes on and that person will still be alive and well in some part of the universe. There is
also a theme of diversity in age, gender, and race.
f. Citations
i. "Section 6 Summary." Song of Myself. Shmoop, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.
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ii. Vijaen1919. "Critical Analysis of Walt Whitman Song of Myself." Scribd. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.
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