Leaves of Grass

The human body is a recurring motif; Whitman is specific in his invocation of bodily glory, though his paeans to the flesh often end in a repetition of another motif—the universal Social, Political, and Spiritual Equality of human beings, and their eventual joining together. 

In “Song of Myself,” Whitman’s speaker lavishes praise on the body: He describes himself as the “poet of the body” (Line 422) who regards “the flesh and its appetites” (Line 524) as “miracles” (Line 525). He provocatively praises bodily details that are typically considered unpleasant or taboo: “[T]he scent of these arm-pits [is] aroma finer than prayer” (Line 528) and he confesses self-love: “If I worship any particular thing it shall be some of the spread of my own body” (Line 530). But even this seemingly fully materialist encomium promotes the typically Whitman notion of mystical joining—in this case, of the bodily self with all other selves: “Translucent mould of me it shall be you” (Line 531).

The same transition happens in “A Song for Occupations,” where the speaker first announces how he loves to have his body in close contact with other bodies: “Come closer to me, / Push close my lovers and take the best I possess” (Lines 1-2).