A Psychological and Philosophical Reading of Human Discourse in Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself"

Abstract

Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself can be looked at as a psychological and ontological personal experience for the poet. In fact, having thoughtfully read and critically analysed the poem and with much attention to the philosophical and psychological implications which prevail throughout the song, we see that the poem is teemed with condense thematic observations about the existential self and the individualistic sense embedded through a universal and unified human discourse beginning from the micro-self and ending with a macro and collective sense, referred to as “transpersonal”. We argue that “Song of Myself” can be viewed in light of its psychological and/or individualistic experience, especially from the side of the poet. We further assume that the title of the poem has both the reader and the poet’s perspectives, thus contributing to more indulging in a personal and psychological state of mind and individualistic journey. While the poem demonstrates a self-revealing image about the internal structure of content as it significantly reminds the reader of himself/herself, it is found that such a psychological and cognitive reminder adds a special kind of framework that brings its borders so close to the readers' cognitive and existential consciousness which asserts a universal human discourse.