Question

What do the images of grass in this excerpt from Whitman's “Song of Myself” symbolize?

A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.
Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrance designedly dropt,
Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see
and remark, and say Whose?

Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
KanuckTuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same,
I receive them the same.”

Answer 1

Walt Whitman provides images of grass throughout his poem “Song of Myself.” According to the him, grass represents the hopeful nature of man. It also represents a gift from God: “A scented gift and remembrance designedly dropt,” which acts as a reminder of God’s existence. The poet further contemplates that the grass could also represent the “child” of nature: “Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.”

As the poem progresses, Whitman uses grass as a symbol of equality. Grass represents how people of different races, genders, and classes are equal in America. Just as grass grows everywhere irrespective of the place, all humans are equal, no matter the group they belong to.

(PLATO)