Walt Whitman was a renowned poet for the extraordinary innovations in both form and content in his poetry. He did not only wrote the poetry of a lyrical self, but also became the voice of the new nation and society. “Song of Myself” is the one of his poems, including a lyric self that touches on social issues. In “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman bring ideas about the American identity, wahdet-ul wujud in Sufism and the notion of democracy, focusing on the duality of soul and body.
First of all, both the implications in the strings and the form of the poem serve to define American identity throughout the duality of body and spirit. For instance, “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air / Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same.” Whitman says. In these lines, it can be seen that persona focuses on people who had emigrated to America in the past. This means that people, living in America, can be the children of these migrating fathers, and all of them may have migrated from different places in the past. Yet, this is not something that differentiates them, but on the contrary, this is something that unites them in terms of the American identity they generate. In addition, if we take a look at the form of this poem, it was written in free libre (vers libre). It can be said that such freely written strings represent the body of the poem, and the content of the poem represents the soul. This body consists of many strings of short and length lines, without rhyme. Just like the different verses that serve the content of this poem, the bodies of people of different nationalities come together to form the American identity. This can remind of us the term “melting pot” which means all races and identities are melting together in a common American identity. Thus, we see that Whitman's "Song of Myself" poetry is important in building the identity of the new American nation.
Secondly, Whitman's “Song of Myself,” Whitman unravels the duality of the soul and body into one, and this analysis has a great similarity to the thought of wahdet-ul wujud in the Sufism. According to the wahdet-ul wujud thought, there is only one being that is real (which is God), and everything else is the shadow of that being. Everything we see in the physical world is just a shadow of that precious being: the sun, the sky, the flowers, the other people. All of these shadows consist of a single entity. It can be seen that Whitman’s “Song of Myself” implies to wahdet-ul wujud poem, when persona says: “For every atom belongs to me.” This uniformity, this uniqueness, is related to the fact that we do not actually have an existence, only that we are part of a whole. We are shadows made up of one soul. Our bodies are not in a state of contrast with each other's bodies, on the contrary we are all one, the shadows of the same soul. As Rumi says “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” we have a divine part within us, we all have the same essence. Whitman also implies that, saying my atom belongs to you. Also, Whitman, in this poem, reaches the knowledge regarding ultimate being, God, from the seen by saying "...the unseen is proved by the seen." Furthermore, in “Song of Myself,” Whitman uses the organs of the body as a symbol in this poem to show that differences originate from the same source. For instance, the persona says that“Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean.” This means that the persona’s way of seeing people as organs of a body shows the idea that we are all part of another. Although we may look different, we are all organs of a body, the same source, which we come from. Thus, in “The Song of Myself,” it is possible to come across traces of wahdet-ul wujud thought.
Lastly, in “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman touches on the concept of democracy which is one of the most important values of the new nation. When he writes“Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul...” it can be seen that he uses the concepts related to body and soul and senses to the reader. When we say the voice of poetry in these verses, we see that it offers us a consciousness of democracy. This means that things that are not my soul can also be beautiful. Thoughts that are not my thoughts are also respected, and people who do not have my skin color have the same value as me and the right to express their thoughts. These verses contain all these sub-meanings, and the cleanliness and sweetness of the author's spirit is emphasized. Then, the voice of poem embraces clearness and sweetness which symbolize the thoughts of others. Furthermore, the voice of poem allows every speech to be spoken as well as democracy that allows every opinion to be expressed: “I permit to speak at every hazard.” This means that Whitman allocates a place to the concept of different ideas, identities and opinions. Moreover, in the poem, the persona smells different perfumes: “Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes / I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it.” It can be said that there is more than one perfume, those different perfumes can symbolize different thoughts, pertaining to democracy. In other words, poet has made a material and perceptible concept like perfumes symbolize an abstract concept of democracy. In conclusion, in “Song of Myself,” Whitman focuses on the notion o democracy, the thought of wahdet-ul wujud and the American identity of the new nation while analyzing the body and the soul dilemma. In this poem, I and you turn into “we” and this transformation is highly importants when the selfishness of modern World is taken into acount. One of the most important ways to get rid of humanity's selfishness and all these fights is to remember that "our atoms belong to each other's atoms." In my humble opinion, as people embrace and internalize the idea that we belong to each others’ atoms, we will give a hand for each other more. As a result, with these united hands, society will develop further and be glorified together.