Jamie G.'s Whitman Blog

Song of Jamie

September 7th, 2009

All page citations are from The Library of America publication of Whitman: Poetry and Prose (1982).

I am satisfied….I see, dance, laugh, sing;

As God comes a loving bedfellow and sleeps at my side all

night and close on the peep of the day, (p. 29)

I am the poet of the body,

And I am the poet of the soul.

The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of hell

are with me. (p. 46)

I’m slightly unusual in the fact that I could not find six consecutive lines within “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman. Many things I find myself agreeing with and finding resonances with are quickly followed with sentiments that appear, at least to me, very different from the previous lines. Whitman, at least in “Song of Myself,” is the poet of contradictions. He is everywhere and nowhere at once. The lines I selected are very resonant with me because napping is a time when I feel connected to my body, but also to the world of dreams, which is all soul. The lines “As God comes a loving bedfellow and sleeps at my side all/ night and close on the peep of the day” (29), connect to my picture because I believe the presence of God can be seen no clearer than in the faces of animals. Pictured is my kitten, Heathcliff (named after the Byronic Hero of Wuthering Heights), who sleeps with me everytime I lay down to nap or sleep for the night and is fiercely protective. I feel like he is my guardian angel of sorts.

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