These images appear to have no clear organization yet, in effect, they have a basic underlying unity, usually involving a spiritual concept, which gives meaning and coherence to the apparently disconnected images or scenes.According to this article on the Library of Congress webpage, “The publication of the first slim edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass was the debut of a masterpiece that shifted the course of American literary history.” Based on that assessment, as an English teacher I can’t overlook the influence that Whitman made on the shaping of the American identity. He uses numerous images, usually drawn from nature, to suggest and heighten the impression of a poetic idea. The catalog is another special characteristic of Whitman's poetic technique. Colloquial words unite the natural with the spiritual, and therefore he uses many colloquial expressions. He once wrote to Horace Traubel, his biographer: 'I sometimes think the Leaves is only a language experiment.' Words, for Whitman, have both a 'natural' and a 'spiritual' significance. Whitman's style reflects his individualism. 'Song of Myself' is a good example of the stylistic features of Leaves of Grass. Even the most commonplace objects, such as Leaves, ants, and stones, contain the infinite universe. Thus the poet's ecstasy is both physical and spiritual, and he develops a sense of loving brotherhood with God and with all mankind. Sexual union is a figurative anticipation of spiritual union.

The poet wishes to maintain the identity of his individual self, and yet he desires to merge it with the universal self, which involves the identification of the poet's self with mankind and the mystical union of the poet with God, the Absolute Self. Man has an individual self, whereas the world, or cosmos, has a universal or cosmic self. To Whitman, the self is both individual and universal. The concept of self is the most significant aspect of Whitman's mind and art.

The self comprises ideas, experiences, psychological states, and spiritual insights. The self is conceived of as a spiritual entity which remains relatively permanent in and through the changing flux of ideas and experiences which constitute its conscious life. Houses and rooms represent civilization perfumes signify individual selves and the atmosphere symbolizes the universal self. There are three important themes: the idea of the self, the identification of the self with other selves, and the poet's relationship with the elements of nature and the universe. The changes in the title are significant in indicating the growth of the meaning of the poem. In 1856 it was called 'A Poem of Walt Whitman, an American' and in 1860 it was simply termed 'Walt Whitman.' Whitman changed the title to 'Song of Myself' in 1881. This poem had no title in the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass.

Whitman: The Quintessential American Poet.

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.

Are You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?.

From song of myself