Song of Myself: With a Complete Commentary (Iowa Whitman Series)

terrific exploration/explication of this complex and delicious work.

One the most enjoyable critical works of Whitman I've encountered in over 25 years of study. Poignant, illuminating, contemporary commentary. Just superb and so insightful. A splendid intro to Whitman, and also one that can be referred to over a lifetime. Celebrates Walt's glorious essence!

In 1969 I picked up a paperback copy of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. I still have the book, underlined and worn. For me, Song of Myself has always been one of Whitman's trickier poems to tackle and I have only read it in bits and pieces. I was excited to see this new volume of Song of Myself with commentary. It gave me an opportunity to read the poem in its entirety, with aids to help me sort it out.In 2014 the University of Iowa offered an open, international online course, Every Atom: Walk Whitman's "Song of Myself." This book arose from that project. This is the first section-by-section reading of the poem.The introduction, Reading Song of Myself, notes that the poem appeared in six editions from 1855 to 1881, and its meaning changed as did America, viewed as nostalgia, or as arising from the Civil War and later class and racial stress, or even as mystical. It's appearance as the main poem of Leaves of Grass never changed.Folsom reminds us of the huge changes during Whitman's writing of the poem: The Civil War and Reconstruction; scientific advances that toppled humanity's concept of itself in relation to time and the universe; the breakdown of religious beliefs constraining scientific beliefs; the struggle for freedom for African Americans.I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.In Song of Myself, Whitman was offering a paradigm for understanding the interconnectedness of all things, imagining an ideal Democratic society and setting forth its tenets. What he proposes is radical. We are called to rise above all conventional and group thinking to perceive the material reality. All perceived divisions are false. Atoms flow from one thing into another which makes all interrelated and one. The grass arises from the dead in a perfect circle of life.A child said What is the grass?...And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves....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...The poet embraces all humanity, identifying himself with every sort of person and every sort of human experience. Work, war, sex; slave and master, male and female; the innocent and the guilty, the quick and the dead; there is nothing alien. Boundaries, hierarchies, divisions are artificial. He shares all with everyone, and speaks for everyone.I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.I am not the poet of goodness only, I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.Whitman ends the poem with the lines "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable/I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." Words can scare communicate what the poet wants us to understand. We may need to look for his body "under your boot-soles" but his "barbaric yawp" has endured, to "make of it what you will." Thankfully, this commentary has aided me and opened up a new understanding of America's greatest poem.I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Walt Whitman’s poem, which would eventually become “Song of Myself,” had no title in the 1855, first edition of Leaves of Grass. In the 1856 edition, it was “A Poem of Walt Whitman, an American.” In 1860, the title changed to “Walt Whitman.” It wasn’t until 1871 that Whitman changed the title to “Song of Myself.” Along with the changes in title were changes made over the course of time to the poem itself.Whitman’s “I” is a spectator, a commentator of what he sees, seeing them all, rich, poor, black, white, all religions, all races, all the good and the bad, revealing them all, and then moving on.In the early part of this poem, Whitman shows the reader how the physical self, the “I,” encompasses the universe and also is interchangeable with the universe. How every element in nature is in us, and when we have no further use of our bodies they return to the earth to once again be a part of the universe. We are all part of this cycle, and therefore equal. Grass, the ultimate symbol of democracy.There’s more, there’s so much more. But, for me, this time it was the predominant “take-away.” The commentary of the poem is broken down by section, with a Critical Commentary followed by an Afterword. These are both elucidating. The Commentary focusing on “translating” the section, and the Afterword occasionally sharing a life experience that sheds more light on the section.My grandfather figures predominantly in my love of poetry, and more specifically in the love of Whitman’s poetry. As a child, I sat beside him as he wrote his own poems, line by line, asking this much younger version of me what words I thought he should use. Including me in the process. When he wasn’t writing, or we weren’t polishing the pews or some such thing, he was reading poetry to me. In this case, I remember a lot of it discovered under his loving eye as he broke this down, line by line, first asking, and then helping me discover what this poem was about. For him, the equality of all men was the paramount message. My grandfather was poor, growing up in rural West Virginia in a house his father had lovingly built with his own hands. His parents had lived on his grandfather’s farm when they were first married, but moved to “town” in 1902 when Salem College was being built nearby, they wanted a college education for themselves and their children.I had started reading another book around the same time, Rick Bragg’s “All Over But the Shoutin,’” and then a day or so later, I began in small bits reading “The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks” by Jesmyn Ward. It made for an interesting combination, from the 1850s to now, words, ideas and ideals shared by Whitman. Bragg, echoing the same thoughts throughout his memoir. Ward, one of today’s authors, asking the same questions.Whitman’s celebration of the self includes everyone, regardless of race, morality, identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social standing.To paraphrase the last line of an old Peter, Paul & Mary / Pete Seeger song: When will we ever learn?Pub Date: 15 October 2016Many thanks to University of Iowa Press (The Iowa Whitman Series), NetGalley, and to Ed Folsom and Christopher Merrill.

Whitman's "Song of Myself" retains its power to surprise, delight, and overwhelm. His epic "Myself," Folsom points out, literally does contain multitudes. The poem's speaker is no less than this living organism called America, and to make it function, "I" must honor and adore and BECOME every disparate, contradictory part of 'Myself'. Whitman's epic offers a prescription for America, and its message is more urgent than ever.I suggest reading "Song of Myself" straight through, alongside Folsom's brilliantly helpful commentary, in sequence, section by astonishing section; it will feel like being guided through the sacred caves of Lascaux by the wisest priest in the tribe. The poem begins to adhere, and make urgent sense after all!Then re-read the poem, later, along with Christopher Merrill's "afterward" remarks. A distinctly different experience. Merrill wrote his "Afterwards" postcards while re-reading the poem abroad; they are little flags of his poetic disposition waving hello from ports around the globe. Folsom and Merrill each offers his own rewards, but the parts were written separately; they overlap, but do not have the flow of an actual conversation between them. They're more satisfying company one at a time. :)

Capolavoro. Così l'ha definito il mio ragazzo, al quale l'ho regalato. Ho dovuto aspettare meno di due mesi per riceverlo ed è arrivato un mese prima del previsto. Per gli appassionati, credo che valga decisamente la pena leggerlo.