The common theme shared by both works is the importance of establishing identity, and the importance of being able to ultimately let that identity go. The "Pensive Bodhisattva" is a Buddhist image that is believed to be the Buddha before he attained enlightenment. He is contemplating worldly concerns and with down-turned eyes is letting go of the ego in his enlightened state. Likewise, the epic poem "Story of Myself" by Walt Whitman uses descriptive language and analogies to identify who he is as a human being and an American citizen, and at the same time, seeing himself as connected to the universe. In both works, the message is about transcending
