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PARTISAN REVIEW
visionary-literally because ejaculation leads to sleep and thus to dream , but
metaphorically because it is the realization of the possibility of transcending
the self through sexual ecstasy which leads to an acceptance of the world . As
we fall off to sleep following orgasm , we are able to see a kind of inner sense in
the world , a world freed from the pressures of the day and in which we have
regained a kind of repose that Freud thought found its only model in intra–
uterine existence . Through that vision Whitman could come
to
his
understanding of the world and greet all men and women as sleepers , each
dreaming his own dream, but each dream like the others .
"SONG OF MYSELF"
Whitman 's most important poem, in terms of length , and in terms of
the themes broached there, is clearly his " Song of Myself. " Critics have
attempted to find an adequate way of understanding the poem 's strength and
sense of inner unity despite an appearance of disorder , but no one has fully
explained the poem 's patterns by looking at it in the light of ' 'The Sleepers"
as a dream-vision based on sexual experience . I would like to attempt such a
reading now with the clear understanding that I am not denying any epic or
mystic or democratic elements-they are clearly all there but they do not
explain how the poem works , nor do they deal with any of the sexual structure .
The poem appears, at first glance , to be very unlike "The Sleepers" in
that it seems to be the product of a wholly conscious mind which is engaged in
a number of identifiable traditional poetic functions-e .g. singing, being an
epic poet ; debating , being a metaphysical poet. But a careful look at the
poem will reveal that the poem is a monologue posing as a dialogue, or per–
haps a dialogue which turns out to be a monologue. A dialogue for one
speaker might be a nice way of putting it . The second role is clearly non–
speaking .
The mode of the poem seems
to
be a body/ soul dialogue , such as those
popular in the Renaissance, and known in American poetry through the
example of Anne Bradstreet. But the body does most of the talking , the soul
does not seem
to
respond , and the reader is addressed so often and so insist–
entlyas "you" that he indeed becomes a part of the poem . The poem is cast as
a love poem ; it involves a seduction, a growing desire which leads to final
fulfillment and then
to
the vision which follows on sexual experience and
which , as in "The Sleepers", permits the poet to perceive the unity of all
things. The poem also ends with a sense of contentment brought on by
acceptance but not until the poet has marked the end of the night by bidding
farewell
to
his lover.
The structure of the poem is loose, but nonetheless clear if one follows
