The way that Whitman speaks about matter never disappearing just being reused and reformed feels almost scientific. He makes this a hopeful message by saying that death is actually “luckier” than life. Whitman continues the metaphor of seeing grass as the rebirth of the dead into the cyclical nature of life. The second part of section six focuses on grass as the “uncut hair of grass” Whitman imagines the deceased humans from which grass grows. Whtiman’s guesses range widely from “the flag of my disposition” to “the handkercheif of the Lord” to “a uniform hieroglyphic.” Interestingly, Whitman ties all of the guesses back to the human condition at least in some vague way. He makes several guesses as to what grass might be or represent. How Whitman chooses to answer the question is even more puzzling. Right away I find it intriguing that Whitman devotes an entire section of “Song of Myself” to answering the question of a child, especially a question that would normally be passed over by most adults. Whitman goes on to attempt to answer this question all though he makes it clear that he is unsure of the answer. Within this section Whitman tries to grasp “What is the grass?” spawning from a child’s question. From the title of “Leaves of Grass” it is obvious that grass has some significance to Whitman. The section of “Song of Myself” that stands out to me in particular is the sixth section where Whitman discusses grass.
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