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Walt Whitman wrote “Song of Myself” in free verse, an open form which does not adhere to any formal rhythm or metrical scheme. While some of Whitman’s other (and more popular) poems did use more rigid forms, like “O Captain! My Captain!”, Whitman is now most famous for his innovations in free verse. As M. Jimmie Killingsworth writes, Whitman “all but invented free verse in English, introducing breathlessly long lines and using repetitions of words and sounds to create a web-like form to replace the conventional meters used by even the most experienced poets before him.” (Killingsworth, M. “Poetry Before the Civil War.” The Cambridge Introduction to Walt Whitman, 2007, page 24.)
The ever-shifting nature of free verse suits Whitman’s thematic emphasis on the inevitability of change, the dominance of the present and the now. Its flexibility also allows the poem to transform as easily and radically as Whitman’s conception of self. He casually alters line lengths, for example, in the same way that he casually widens and restricts the boundaries of his person.
Free verse also allows Whitman’s poetry to read like a spontaneous flow of thought. Many sections feel more like a casual conversation than a formal work of literature.
By Walt Whitman
A Glimpse
A Glimpse
Walt Whitman
America
America
Walt Whitman
A Noiseless Patient Spider
A Noiseless Patient Spider
Walt Whitman
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Walt Whitman
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
Walt Whitman
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Walt Whitman
For You O Democracy
For You O Democracy
Walt Whitman
Hours Continuing Long
Hours Continuing Long
Walt Whitman
I Hear America Singing
I Hear America Singing
Walt Whitman
I Sing the Body Electric
I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman
I Sit and Look Out
I Sit and Look Out
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
O Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Walt Whitman
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
Walt Whitman
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