When I first saw this on the syllabus, I instantly recognized that this particular poem was the opening lines of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself", which was one of the most well-crafted and thought-provoking poems I had ever read. One thing I like about this poem and Walt Whitman in particular is his free verse. This poem was a welcome change of pace for "I wandered lonely as a cloud". I love that Walt Whitman is radical in both form and content. The complete poem in general felt American to me because it was meant to be unifying, as evidenced by such passages as "For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you" and "Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same."
In this opening part of the poem, I believe that Whitman is referring to himself, but later on in "Song of Myself", he does great things by putting himself in other people's shoes and experiencing their walks of life, and tying everyone together to form a sense of unity. As America's social classes were becoming more and more stratified, this work to me seems extremely proletariat and really bridged the gap between realism while still having many romantic elements.
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