Section+5

Section 5 of Walt Whitman’s //Song of Myself// celebrates the ability of every man to access the over-soul, as the speaker must form a bond with his estranged soul in order to realize this connection with all other life. The personification of the speaker’s soul in the first two stanzas depicts the disconnection between “the other” he is and the spirit that lies within (82). He addresses it as “you” (82), suggesting that although he has reverence for his soul, he has not looked inwardly enough to incorporate it into his own being. In the second stanza, the speaker says that it is “not custom or lecture” he wants to hear (85), that “only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice” (86). The speaker’s use of apostrophe in these lines illustrates his soul as something he respects, only wanting to hear that which his soul produces, the hum he speaks of, bar from society’s influence through “custom or lecture”. The speaker hopes to learn the knowledge locked deep within him, realizing that he has not yet allowed this other person to enter into his heart. By stripping away “the best” words and leaving only those that are true to him (85), the speaker hopes to end his estrangement with his soul.

The imagery of the third stanza symbolizes the speaker’s unison with his soul that results from the growing love between the two entities. After they lie together on a “transparent summer morning” and the speaker’s soul parts “the shirt from [his] bosom bone” (87, 89), no barriers stand in the way of their symbiotic connection. Since morning begins the day, this scene represents the start of the speaker’s connection with his soul, bringing him ever closer to understanding the universal spirituality. Stripping his clothes cleanses him of societal influence and leaves him entirely open to the nature around him, ready to learn from his soul. This unification finally occurs when his soul’s “tongue” enters his “heart” and fills his being (89), providing the image of the two entities merging into one. The soul’s knowledge is expressed through its tongue, meaning that this wisdom now resonates within the speaker’s core and allows him to see beyond his own existence.

The structure of the last stanza parallels the connection with all other life that results from the speaker’s union with his own soul. Immediately after becoming one with it, all lines except one that follow begin with the word “And,” followed by a description of spirituality or an affirmation that all other creatures are the speaker’s “brothers” and “sisters” (94). His newfound bond with other life continues as endlessly as his use of this word, filling him with love for things as small as “stones” and “poke-weed” (98). The speaker recognizes that each of these parts of nature coexists him harmony with others, and the repetition of this word suggests the link between all of them that the speaker now recognizes. This final stanza is also the longest in this section of progressively lengthening verses, suggesting that the newfound connection to all beings that the speaker develops provides him with a more open outlook on life instead of the secluded view he begins with. His newfound union with his soul brings forward the plethora of life that all contributes to the same over-soul, introducing him into the brotherhood of every creature.