Whitman wanted to be known as the spokesman of democracy—in many countries he has become a symbol of American democracy—but his poems have survived as poems rather than as repositories of ideas. Whitman’s most characteristic poem is “Song of Myself.” Thou

Whitman- Song of Myself

Walt Whitman is often identified not only as an American poet , but as the poet of America , that is , the poet who best sang the main aspects of American life and the philosophy on which the state was first built Whitman has thus been the voice that uttered all the main guiding principles of America 's politics and life- philosophy : equality and democracy , liberty , the importance of human rights without differentiating according to color , race or gender . However , as some of his critics maintained , the original American poet

was much more than just a writer on equality and freedom , or on any of the strictly social problems . His idea of democracy goes much further than that , and it can be argued that the democracy he advocated was as much spiritual and transcendental as it was social and political

Walt Whitman 's Song of Myself is one of his most representative works for the idea of democracy . A superficial overview of the poem would indeed point first to Whitman 's social ideas of democracy , as he states over and over that man and women are equal , that all races are equal as well , and that all men are brothers , no matter their social status or their place in the world- they can be thieves or prostitutes , but they are still worthy to be part of the poet 's song and are still significant parts of the universe , equal to anything else that exists . Also , his famous and all-comprising enumerations seem to characterize Whitman 's view of the world as a superficial view , directed always to the outside

However , this is not a complete analysis of Whitman 's poetry , and in fact resuming his ideas to this would be to miss the most important point that his work makes . His ideas do have depth and he focuses as much on the inner as on the outer aspects of the world . In fact , the very ideas of democracy and equality are the ones that reveal the more transcendental meaning of his poetry . As it shall be seen , Whitman looks upon the universe as from the vantage point of absolute certainty , from where all things can be seen as equal and as occupying their own place in nature . As Whitman himself states , his view of the world is that of absolute democracy , and democracy is the pass-word primeval , that is , a sort of key to the universe

I speak the pass-word primeval , I give the sing of democracy

By God ! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms (Whitman , 53

To look upon the world from a democratic point of view means essentially to see the world in its fullness and plenitude , or to see the universe as a great reduced . Nothing can be reduced to something else , believed Whitman , and all things stand equal but separated in the world . No being can shadow the existence of another , and no voice can speak...