ИСТИНА

This is probably the most naïve question one can ask about Whitman’s song — Why is it called a song? A simple answer would be that — it’s an example of a complex composition that poets often label as songs. But let’s look at it in a different way — in Whitman’s time music-making [and singing for that matter] was very seldom a solitary activity. You may want to sing — alone — in the woods [which I sometimes do] but only to create a human presence other than yourself. You sing with others. You sing for other voices to listen in and join in; there are special parts to songs where you expect other voices to join in — those are refrains and choruses. In singing, you kind of wave sonic flares in the air — so other voices can take notice of yours. And this is what — I think — Whitman does. This is one of the reasons his Song is a song. Or at least he wants it to work like a song. He advertises his fascination with his own voice because he wishes that other voices were equally fascinated of themselves and made themselves heard. He protrudes himself towards them, and wishes they would reciprocate.