Whitman also seems infatuated with the idea that something foreign can become part of the self either figuratively or literally. In poem 37, for example, Whitman speaks of “instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop, / They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me (615-16).” This seems to join his physical body to everything else around him, rendering him a part of the surrounding environment. These two lines connect the self to both other people and to the earth, a theme that continues throughout the poem. In the first poem this is asserted with such lines as “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (3) and “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air” (6). The body is conceived not as an individual entity, but as a part of a greater whole. The first breaks down the boundaries between self and other by treating the body as continuous with the outside world. Whitman addresses the issue of the body and how it is connected with the self in two contradictory manners. In doing so, he makes something as familiar as the body into something foreign. Whitman takes full advantage of this range. The body is a major theme in Song of Myself because it is so open to interpretation. The most accessible definition of self is that it is what makes someone who they are, and a large part of identity is the physical body. By using vivid, evocative language to addres questions that are essentially unanswerable, contradicting himself, and oscillating between the assertion of individuality and the interconnectedness of everything, Whitman breaks down the meaning of self and creates a void in its stead. Walt Whitman realizes this in his Song of Myself, where, in questioning the idea of self, he questions other related ideas such as the body, death, and the relationship between the individual, others, and nature. In the breaking down of something as basic as self, it is inevitable that other basic ideas are broken down as well. The same can be true of almost anything, and it is enough to drive one mad looking at each object that surrounds them and asking “What is it?” However, this extensive questioning is impossible, impractical, and unnecessary. The idea of self is rooted in the everyday, but it is so abstract that it cannot be defined. “Define yourself,” a person could be asked, and they would probably reply something close it “it is me, who I am, myself.” It does not take long to see the problem. Most people cannot separate the idea of self from their individual personalities.
The idea of self is something that seems to make sense at first but loses its meaning rapidly upon contemplation.
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