“Song of Myself: ” Life and Death in a Blade of Grass

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“Song of Myself:” Life and Death in a Blade of Grass Whitman first introduces the idea of grass as a symbol primarily limited to life and death, but later exposes this once simple blade as a mechanism for equality and unity in a nation divided by racial and gender differences. A child asks “What is the grass?” (Whitman). The answer to this question follows Whitman throughout the rest of his work, but in the primary section forces him to delve into the possibilities. He characterizes the grass in a multitude of ways: the way it grows “among black folks as among white folks” and the way it sprouts “alike in broad zones and narrow zones” (Whitman). The grass is not subjective to where it grows; therefore, there is no natural inclination to grow in one place over another. Wealth, money, power, skin color—none of this matters to the simplistic blades of grass. Looking closer, Whitman goes on to claim that grass is also a sign of the life that arises from death. He says, “The smallest sprout shows there really is no death” (Whitman). Life and death fall into a circuitous cycle losing any one particular meaning—of either life or death—in the process, eventually causing the two different meanings to morph into one. The poet perceives grass as the transformed form of life that emerges from the graves of those who have passed and are now buried beneath him. Life—in the form of grass—emerges from death, eliminating any fear in the finality of death and creating this pinnacle symbol that Whitman goes so far as to end his piece with. He writes, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love.” He is saying that though this may be the end his work, it is never really the end because knew life—in the form of critics, readers, and publishers—will continue to emerge, keeping his piece alive even after he

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