The poem weaves together apparently contradictory impulses: radical individualism and democratic equality, sensual embodiment and spiritual transcendence, scientific observation and mystical vision. Whitman embraces contradictions: "Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
Whitman celebrates the body as sacred, democracy as spiritual practice, and ordinary life as worthy of poetry. He sees the divine in grass, in the mechanic at work, in the diversity of American life. His sprawling catalogues—listing professions, places, experiences—assert that all existence participates equally in being.
The poem's free verse form, revolutionary for its time, embodies its democratic content. Rejecting conventional meter and rhyme, Whitman creates a uniquely American voice—expansive, inclusive, exuberant.
"Song of Myself" influenced modernist poetry and expressed an optimistic vision of human possibility that continues to inspire readers seeking affirmation of self and connection with all existence.
Source
Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman