Peter Bolland

In this class we’ll focus on a close reading of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” the first poem in his 1855 masterpiece Leaves of Grass. As we move through extended passages, Whitman’s prophetic voice takes hold and a bracing vision of American individualism rises into view. Equally worldly and transcendent, carnal and spiritual, Whitman artfully blends the contrasts of life into a living mystery that shimmers with beauty and power. It is the sacred in all things, especially in us, that Whitman celebrates.