SONG BY MYSELF

TG ALLEN

It’s hard (maybe impossible) to write about long poems without mentioning this poem by Walt Whitman. It contains famous quotations such as “I am large, I contain multitudes” and “These are the days that must happen to you” and so many more. While these iconic sayings are short, the poem is 1,349 lines in total. Long poems are traditionally poems that tell stories. But Whitman breaks with tradition. Instead, he uses his conversational, stream of consciousness style to ruminate on the ideas of self, identity, and nature. Long, epic poems celebrate a hero who stands out from the rest of a community. But in his poem, Whitman asserts the importance of the common person. He highlights the significant and heroism that exists inside every individual just by existing.

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