The poem explores the themes of the self, the all-surrounding "I," sexuality, social equality, the human body, and what it means to live in the contemporary world. Whitman speaks to a general idea of self, a shared aim between his individual character—the Walt Whitman he often portrays as the good guy in his poems—and the Democratic self, which is the communal personality that most everyone has in common. Whitman explains that the self is a collective experience between both the audience and the writer. As members of a self-governing civilization, all selves are entangled—but on the contrary, each of these entwined "selves" still preserves his or her eccentricity.
A common theme in Whitman’s poetry, as a whole, is the human body. He believes that it is a vital link that connects each and every individual self to the mutual Democratic self. It can also be said that in Whitman’s mind, the physical body is tied to his image of the soul. Without the physical body there is no soul. Most individuals can agree that the human body is the gateway through which the soul and life …show more content…
There are so many issues that have arose from these things that he has pointed out. In today’s times, women are not treated as man’s equal, they are treated as a lesser individual, and it shows in the work place, financially, etc. It was stated in the Bible that Eve was created from Adam’s rib. It should be noted that she was not created from his head to be above him, nor his feet to be beneath him, but she was created from his side to be his equal. Of course the previous statement is nothing more than an observational opinion, but it is something to think