Walt Whitman, in his poemSong of Myself” (1882), writes of the beauty of nature and the divinity of mankind. He sees the uniqueness and common bond of everything, especially his fellow man, whom he views as a fellow traveler in a romantic adventure. He first explains his own divinity, and then moves to show that the reader is also divine. Whitman celebrates the divinity of himself. To him, everything is sacred for he “hears and beholds God in every object” (1282). But if everything is sacred, he is more so: he can not “understand anything who… can be more wonderful” (1283) than himself. He places himself on a divine plane by stating “and nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s self is” (1271), a level that he modestly and joyously accepts. Whitman sees his life as a “perpetual journey” (1202), of which he is the central figure and hero; and he is a wild hero at that, unique in all the world, “not a bit tamed” (1330). For Whitman, this uniqueness is often (in some respects) synonymous with divinity. This concept leads Whitman to write that all, even the “kept-woman, sponger, thief” (375), are divine and are invited on his “perpetual journey” (1202), because they too are unique. He also stresses the common bonds they share, such as an adventurous spirit and love of life. He credits his achievements to the reader as much as to himself, saying “If they are not yours as much as mine, they are nothing” (356). He points to the divinity in common things, such as the “early redstart” (385), leading one to realize that one, unique in all the world, is even greater in one’s divinity. Whitman does not only celebrate other great warriors and poets, but also the “counquer’d and slain persons” (362), with as much or greater zeal than his successful fellow journeymen. It is in these slain and conquered and common people’s “ faces…that he sees God” (1284). Whitman sees God everywhere he looks, in the sunrise and sunset, the beggar and the lame, himself and his country. He sees this divinity as a common bond, one that unites the human race and the entire world in a holy and permanent union that is the natural order of things. Whitman uses this as a launching point for describing life as a journey, and exhorts one to live it fully and enjoy one’s own unique divinity.boo yah

Note: The numbers in parentheses are the line number, and they are actual quotations from "Song of Myself", some of the verb tenses have been slightly modified.