So...what was that book Leaves of Grass trying to say...?

When reading through Whitman's Leaves of Grass, you will feel enlightened. Spirits of joy and optimism will ignite in you, and your ideal America will be presented poetically before your eyes. Whitman makes sure this emotional reaction will occur by developing certain themes: equality, nationalism, mortality versus immortality (the soul), and individuality versus the whole.


Regarding equality, Whitman takes on the idea that everyone in America is equal, no matter what race, class, or gender. This is important to Whitman's text because he is creating an ideal America; by describing this utopia there is a consistent theme of equality, demonstrating how important viewing each other as equals is to living in an ideal America. In numerous poems, Whitman uses the first person; this rhetorical strategy is to emphasize equality within Leaves of Grass. David Reynolds suggests, "The ‘I’ celebrates himself but also announces his complete equality with others" (Reynolds 35). An example of this within the text would be in his poem "Song of Myself." Whitman writes, "I behold the picturesque giant and love him, and I do not stop there, I go with the team also" (Whitman 35). The "I" in the above quote suggests we all love the picturesque giant, who symbolizes a negro man, and we also are one that goes with the team, which represents a group of negro men. Equality is also presented more obviously within the poems. Whitman blatantly describes the equality we must share by referring to all men and women as his neighbors (Whitman 21), and also by listing so many of America's inhabitants: "the machinist...the young fellow..the youth..." and saying that together those inhabitants "weave the song of myself" (Whitman 39). If this unified self represents complete equality with others, the song of all of America's inhabitants sings of that equality.

Once equality is achieved, all men and women can come together to rejoice in their country, which results in another theme throughout Whitman's writing: nationalism. Nationalism is the love for ones country and an overall "patriotic feeling" (Google dictionary). Using this as a theme in his writing, Whitman suggests that you can not only love your equals but you must rejoice in your country with them; it is not enough to be in your country, but you must love it. Whitman wrote that "it is a painful thing to love a man or woman to excess, and yet it satisfies, it is great, but there is something else very great, it makes the whole coincide, it, magnificent, beyond materials, with continuous hands sweeps and provides for all" (Whitman 19).  This "something else" is America, and Whitman believed that if you love it and sacrifice for it, it will never let you down; it will always provide. Whitman also demonstrates this nationalism by the beautiful descriptions he provides of America. He pronounces the perfection of America's nature: "I do not want the constellations any nearer, I know they are very well where they are," (Whitman 127) and also consistently describes America as a spiritual being, who "serves me with breath to speak," and its land's spirits, living and dead, "would be evident and amicable with me." Therefore, not only should one rejoice of America but one should feel how it provides and spiritually serves us all.

Perceiving America as a spiritual entity provides basis for a third theme in Leaves of Grass: mortality versus immortality. Whitman not only describes America as a spiritual entity, but one that is also immortal. This raises the question of what is immortal and mortal within America? Numerous writers suggest that we must face our own mortality, that we are all going to die; however, Whitman counteracts that position. Whitman suggests that we should recognize ourselves as immortal: "See, your own shape and countenance, persons, substances, beasts, the trees, the running rivers, the rocks and sands. All hold spiritual joys and afterwards loosen them; How can the real body ever die and be buried?" (Whitman 22). This quote recognizes the substance of the people, but also the soul, which will forever be immortal. The theme of mortality/immortality plays heavily with the theme of the soul. In his poem "I Sing the Body Electric," he recognizes the beauty of the body and the roles it plays: "To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more, you linger to see his back..." (Whitman 81). Whitman never outright says that this beautiful body will die (even though his audience knows it will), but instead optimistically suggests that "Of him countless immortal lives with countless embodiments and enjoyments" will form (Whitman 85). It is important for Whitman to present that it is not the death of the body that is important, rather it is the immortality of the soul that matters. In "Song of Myself", Whitman recognizes the death on his poet's doorstep, "you bitter hug of mortality" (Whitman 75), but what's important is that he can "smell the white roses sweet-scented and growing," which signify the immortality of his soul.

The final theme of Whitman's grand work Leaves of Grass is individuality versus the whole. This theme can be found everywhere within the work, starting with the title. The title suggests that the grass is the whole, all of the people in America, and the leaves are the individuals that create that whole. Due to Whitman's themes of equality and nationalism, one would think that Whitman would emphasize the whole: that we should love one another and our country and simply act as an organized whole. However, what is important in Whitman's writing is identifying the individual's role in society and the whole role of society. Whitman uses this theme of the individual versus the whole on a grand spectrum. He uses it in specific situations like describing events in war: "I take part, I see and hear the whole" (Whitman 59); and also to relate to the whole world: "I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth, I am the mate and companion of people" (Whitman 31), realizing himself as a part (a companion), but also realizing himself as part of the whole of the world (not an attachment to the earth).

Work Cited:

Whitman, Walt, Michael Moon, Edward Sculley Bradley, and Harold William Blodgett.Leaves of Grass and Other Writings: Authoritative Texts : Other Poetry and Prose : Criticism. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2002. 77. Print.

Reynolds, David S. "Life." Walt Whitman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

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