Stanza Two from "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman
Student Rereading Paper

Within the context of the entire poem, this section likely has a different meaning, but I believe it is so complete as to stand on its own. The section begins with a three line stanza filled with imagery and symbolism:

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, 
the shelves are crowded with perfumes, 
I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, 
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

These lines not only set a mystical and melodic tone for the poem, but introduce an essential thought. The nouns in these lines are all man-made things --houses, rooms, shelves, distilled perfumes--which represent the temporal, material items and pleasures of the world. Whitman uses a strong word, "intoxicate", to describe how these man-made things have a seductive attraction, creating a temptation that requires a conscious effort to resist. Whitman then begins a careful development of something of far greater value, which comprises his "respiration and inspiration" and the "origin of all poems." To Whitman this is Nature.

The second stanza contains four main thoughts defining the relationship Whitman has with Nature. First, he uses rich imagery--"I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked"--to proclaim that in Nature he is able to truly achieve pure honesty. This line, following his denial of man-made things, implies that only in this connection with the earth can he be truly open, unashamed, and one with himself. Perhaps within man-made systems he must hide his true identify behind a disguise.

Second, Whitman suggests that this connection is a love affair, both ecstatic--"I am mad for it to be in contact with me"--and serene , as in the description of the playfulness of the wind--"a few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms." Third, he not only appreciates Nature's exquisite beauty, but experiences a spiritual union with the earth. He becomes "one" with it, as evidenced by the description: "My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs."

And lastly, this rapturous love is not only for the things in Nature but expands to include the appreciation of life itself. This thought is found in the final line of the stanza: "The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun."

In the third and fourth stanzas Whitman uses four questions to evoke his main idea, and he does so with a bang! Like the teacher who knows his student is not reaching his potential, Whitman asks: "Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? Have you reckon'd the earth much? Have you practis'd so long to learn to read? Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?"

His reply is that while answers to these questions are well and good, they are limited, finite, and only touch the surface of what could be discovered. Whitman tells us we can understand not only a single poem, but all poems: "Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems." He admonishes us to realize that while our minds are easily occupied comprehending a thousand acres, or even the entire earth, we should stop short of nothing but the universe: "You shall possess the good of the earth and sun (there are millions of suns left)." And how are we able to do this? Because the ultimate source of knowledge is not other people or books--"nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books"--but through a connection with Nature that is universal and available to every man: "You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self."

This poem is an ecstatic celebration of not just Nature, but life, and a single man's intimate participation in it!