One of the things I find extremely interesting about Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is the way he writes about the universe as a whole as well as purely American subjects, and all the while, he doesn't claim to be the one who knows everything.
In Section 17 of the poem, he writes, "These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me". It creates this effect in the poem that the speaker is talking about what he sees and feels and that the reason why he can't claim these experiences as his own is because everyone has them. He is not the ruler of these thoughts and feelings, he is only here to express them and question them.
Another effect of this is his connection with the audience. He isn't preaching but trying to connect with the reader and relate to the experiences of others, so they can be compared. He often asks questions of the reader, wondering about his own feelings and asking you to wonder about yours. One of my favorite lines is in section 19, at the end, "This hour I tell things in confidence / I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you." Here, he asserts that the poem is filled with his own experiences, though others most likely have also had them. He is trusting the reader with them, as if writing them down is what sets him apart.
I really like this post as I also found the tone in which Whitman writes "Song of Myself" to be very interesting. In regard to your first quotation on section 17, while this quote does create an effect that the speaker is talking about what he sees and feels, (as you've pointed out) I also find this quote to be important because Whitman seems humble and discredits himself as a great thinker. His justification for doing so is that many other intelligent men and women in other lands have likely thought the same thoughts he has. Thus, his thoughts are neither original, nor almighty. That said, as you note, Whitman essentially tells his reader that he is simply attempting to express the thoughts he is having, as well as to question them, This makes me wonder about the field of science. In the field of science, it is true that if a new discovery is made, it is one individual who sees and understands something others do not. This differs from those who share the same thoughts and beliefs about how certain things in life work the way they do. Thus, Whitman is trying to express his intellect to the reader, he is not telling the reader anything extraordinarily profound. Instead, he is trying to explain what he sees and what he understands.
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