poet has confronted this question in his or her work.

Every poem is the poet's attempt to answer the question: what is poetry for, and no less

the work of Walt Whitman, perhaps one of American's greatest poets. In "Song of Myself", he

wrote "Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems", and his

one masterpiece the collection "Leaves of Grass" proved very much so.

In the first poem in the collection, "One's Self I Sing", Whitman stated what his poetry

will be, "Of Life immerse in passion, pulse and power/... The Modern Man I sing". Poetry is

Whitman's chosen form of expression of the triumph of the self and the celebration of life. He

believes that one has to "celebrates [sic] natural propensities in himself; and this is the way he

celebrates all". This is exactly what he advocates in his greatest poem "Song of Myself", "Of

these one and all (referring to aspects of life), I weave the song of myself". This will be a theme

which resonates throughout his life's work, that he sees himself as an embodiment of all

experience. He declared this intention of his poems quite explicitly, "Thou Reader throbbest life

He respects the past, projects the future, but rejoices in the moment. In two poems he raised " I

perspective into life, past the superficiality of appearances, and in understanding life better, gain

the veil of what is known such that others can more fully appreciate the beauty underneathe,

of individual views. Whereas for the poet it is expression, for the reader it becomes experience.

In celebrating life, Whitman's poetry is thus reflective of the exultation of the moment.

lends a more intimate view of what is otherwise plain facts. Poetry reflects truth beautifully

person slighted or left away" ["Song of Myself"]. Such lyrical presentation of the most mundane

master in observation. He literally floods many of his poems with the details of daily life, from

"The kept woman, sponger, thief are invited/ The heavy lipp'd slave is invited, the veneralee is

the surface into the secret of things, to mirror "the true realities" and reveal the unseen

Perhaps one of the greatest function of poetry is that even the most insignificant, can be

of the universe". The free verse he writes in enforces freedom from any form of structure, thus

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1208
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)