Myself in "Song of Myself"

Occurrences of myself in "Song of Myself"

I celebrate myself, and go bathe and admire myself, but they are not the Me myself, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself, adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me, in all people i see myself, I dote on myself, I went myself first to the headland... my own hands carried me there, where the pear shaped balloon is floating aloft... floating in it myself and looking composedly down, I help myself to material and immaterial, I turn the bridegroom out of bed and stay with the bride myself, I myself become the wounded person, I discover myself on a verge of the usual mistake, and henceforth posses you to myself, myself waiting my time to be one of the supremes, putting myself here and now to the ambushed womb of the shadows!, I acknowledge the duplicates of myself under all the scrape-lipped and pipe-legged concealments, and would fetch you whoever you are flush with myself, it is time to explain myself, it is you talking just as much as myself, nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself, I contradict myself.

Some specific examples of myself as a motif analyzed:

"Where the pear-shaped balloon is floating aloft... floating in it myself and looking composedly down Where the life-car is drawn on the slipnoose... where the heat hatches pale-green eggs in the dented sand, Where the she-wale swims with her calves and never forsakes them..."

Whitman creates this persona of "myself" that is both the narrator and Whitman and yet exists    outside both of them. In doing so, the reader is interacting with "myself"/persona that represents anyone and everyone. This persona brings in the reader through these detailed occurrences so that it goes beyond just relating to the poem; the reader and "myself" evolve into inspiring the reader.

"I help myself to material and immaterial, No guard can shut me off, no law can prevent me."

"I do not ask the wounded person how he feels... I myself become the wounded person, My hurt turns livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe."

Because the persona of "myself" is neither Whitman or the narrator, or completely separate of them, as the relationship between the reader and "myself" develops, the reader becomes entranced by the poem and is able to interchangeably become "myself" without even realizing it. So while reading this line, the reader feels as if this is something he/she is doing.

Summary

I found the repetition of this motif to create a pattern within the poem as a sort of contraction and expansion of consciousness. The word "myself" represents more than just the narrators voice; it becomes its own persona that is connected to Whitman but also exists outside of him. The persona as represented through"myself" goes through a development that is mapped throughout the poem with the paralleling development of the reader. The reader's involvement with "myself" becomes integral in this evolution. Whitman created broad lists or catalogues in which "the persona dissolves into an astounding range of particulars, are the heights of consciousness" as Ken Egan describes in his essay, Periodic Structure in "Song of Myself." Whitman is breaking past simply allowing the reader to identify into the realm of inspiration. The persona of "myself" works by bringing the reader into catalogues of experiences so that both the persona and the reader are living out the experience as opposed to simply talking about it. These catalogues are "both vivid in detail and massive in geographic and social scale, ranging from city, to farm, to wilderness, and again, ranging through all occupations and races"(Egan). John Mason describes this as "the reader, through a process of skimming and condensation, forms a single image of each catalogue and finally a single image of that unnamable reward which awaits the poet and the reader."