Have a gander at our take on
Walt Whitman’s classic
Leaves of Grass

T
hen, use this discussion guide to inspire in-depth thinking, and jump-start a conversation about this banned collection of poems. Paradoxically so,  given that it celebrates America and happens to be a guide for a thriving democracy. There’s plenty here to set your mental wheels in motion.

1. What does Whitman mean when he says, “The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem”?
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2. Why does Whitman think that the United States, of all nations, has the most need of poets?
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3. What does Whitman mean when he says, “A great poem is no finish to a man or woman but rather a beginning”?
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4. What “self” does the speaker celebrate? Is it the same as his individual personality?
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5. What does it mean when the speaker says, “Evil propels me, and reform of evil propels me . . . . I stand indifferent,” is he refusing to take any moral stance?
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6. What does the speaker mean when he says, “Writing and talk do not prove me”?
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7. Much of Song of Myself is written in the tone of a lecture or a sermon. So, what does the speaker mean when he says, “Logic and sermons never convince”?
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8. Whose questioning does the speaker refer to when he says, “My words are words of a questioning, and to indicate reality”? What type of relationship is suggested between the questioning and the indication of reality?
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9. How does the speaker think his  self-contradiction is balanced by his claim that “I contain multitudes”?
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10. Why does the speaker characterize Song of Myself as a “barbaric yawp”?

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