WWU Münster

Images of Sexuality
in Walt Whitman′s "Song of Myself"

by

Dirk Lepping

3. Semester
 02.06.1999

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Main part:
2.1. The dealing with sexuality in 19th century 2
2.2. Whitman′s conflict concerning sexual topics 3
2.3. Song of Myself 4
2.3.1. Heterosexual elements 4
2.3.2. Homosexual elements 6
2.3.3. Autosexual elements 9

3. Conclusion 11

4. Bibliography 12

1. Introduction

This research paper is going to deal with the poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, which was published in the collection of poetry Leaves of Grass in 1855 and holds a central place in American literature.
Whitman himself is said to be one of the most revolutionary poets in America and besides the most radical transcendentalist. He was a fighter for democracy and especially stood up for the rights of oppressed and disadvantaged people.
His poems were an outlet of their suppressed feelings and drives.
By using free verse he also broke the conventional meter and introduced a new - more natural - verse form.
Therefore I feel a personal interest in this fascinating man and his works.
A common subject of many of Whitman′s poems is sexuality. You can find a huge variety of several images and symbols of sexuality in numerous poems like e.g. the famous ′Calamus-poems′ ("When I heard at the Close of the Day" or "Trickle Drops") and also in the so-called ′Enfans d′Adam (Children of Adam)-poems′
(Poem of the Body: "I Sing the Body Electric" ; Poem of Procreation: "A Woman waits for Me"; or the most bizarre one Bunch Poem: "Spontaneous Me").

I have selected "Song of Myself" as it is widely considered to be Whitman′s single most important and most personal poem. In "Song of Myself" you can find elements of three kinds of sexuality that often appears in Whitman′s poems: heterosexuality as the ′normal′ sexuality of this time, homosexuality as Whitman is considered to be homosexual and autosexuality which was strictly considered as something abominable and despicable at this time.
Due to the huge variety of sexual elements in "Song of Myself" and the lenght of the poem it is unavoidable to give only some selected examples acting for the others.

2. main part:

2.1. The dealing with sexuality in 19th century

Nowadays it could be difficult to understand the reasons of the enormous resistance Whitman was confronted with when writing about sexuality in his poems. From there it is important to put oneself into the position of a person living in this time by investigating the prevailing attitude towards sexuality in those days. Sexuality was always a taboo-theme and was considered as disgraceful and scandalous. Even speaking about topics concerning sexual feelings, lust, desire or anything voluptuous was disapproved. The following description is a good example of dealing with sexual topics:

In polite circles , piano legs were decorously covered with frilly stockings; undergarments were called ‘ inexpressibles’, shirts ‘linen’ , arms and legs ‘limbs’ or ‘branches’. In popular religious and domestic writings designed for the parlor, sex was rarely mentioned ¹

[...]

1 David S. Reynolds, Walt Whitman’s America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf inc., 1995) p. 195.