Song of Myself: Quote response

“And of these one and all I weave the song of myself.”

Earlier in the passage, Walt Whitman was describing the routine that people go through daily. Generally it is the occupation of that person and what they do everyday and for their job. In this quote, he is stating that he has a routine too. The “song” or process that he goes through everyday fits in with all these other people. Everyone makes their own song. No one has to participate in the occupation they have or the actions that they chose, but they do and that’s why they are labeled and have a “song.”

“The past and present wilt – I have fill’d them, emptied them. And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.”


Whitman describes how he has used the past and the present. He got everything he can out of both, therefore they’re wilted, like a salad; old and used. He goes on to state that he can only hope for the future and what it holds for him. That is the only thing that he can look forward to and employ in his actions. Overall, that’s not the best way for one to go through life, since one would only be living for the future and not the present, now is what one should be living for since it affects you at that very moment in time.