Reflection: "Chanting the Square Deific" and Whitman's idea of Self

Walt Whitman focused his works on his idea of Self.  Whitman defined his idea of what Self really was.  Self in his terms can be divided into three separate parts, and together they make the general term Self.  The first division of Self is one's soul.  This focuses on a person's inner spirituality and who they are as a spiritual presence.  The next part Self is divided into would be that of self perception.  This portion mainly deals with what one singularly thinks about oneself.  Who does one think one is?  What makes one who they are and the roots behind one's actions?  This branches off to the next division of Self, which would be Reality.  This part emphasizes the importance of what others may think of oneself and who one really is in the eyes of the world(Oliver). These three components are essential for the main idea of a defining Self.

Whitman used his ideas of Self in many of his works. Whitman thought that nature and all people portrayed Self.    In "Chanting the Square Deific", Whitman divides each of the stanzas into different points of view as the speaker(Oliver).  These different speakers are God, Christ, Satan, and Santa Spirita, the Soul, and or the Holy Spirit.  These represent the four sides of the square(Oliver).Whitman's idea of Self is represented within "Chanting the Square Deific" in the sense that he uses figures that represent spirituality, and that these figure as a square represent all people as does Self.  Self is represented as the square in the way that it shows that although these sides of the squares are different, all sides in nature are the same(Whitman).  In stanza one, God represents the first side by saying,

 "I am Time, old, modern as any, Unpersuadable, relentless, executing righteous judgments..."(Whitman).

  This statement above represents God's Self-Perception, which is the second of the three parts of Self. In the second stanza, Christ, the second side of the square follow with this statement,

"Foretold by prophets and poets in their most rapt prophecies and poems, From this side, lo! the Lord Christ gazes—lo! Hermes I—lo! mine is Hercules' face..."(Whitman).

 This represents the third part of Self which is how the world perceives one and who one is realistically. This addition of Whitman's poem root back to his values of Self. In the final stanza, the soul presents this,

"Santa Spirita, breather, life, Beyond the light, lighter than light...Life of the great round world, the sun and stars, and of man, I, the general soul..."(Whitman).  

This statement above represents the first part of Self which is what a person is on a spiritual level. Walt Whitman recorded all three main parts of self, spiritual, self perception, and the world perception, into his poem through his four main voices that represented the four sides of the square.

"The Walt Whitman Archive." CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892]) -. Web. 04 Apr. 2012. <http://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/poems/247>.

Oliver, Charles M. "'Chanting the Square Deific'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWW082&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 4, 2012).