REQUIEM FOR AN IDENTITY: ANALYZING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SELF IN SONG OF MYSELF
REQUIEM FOR AN IDENTITY: ANALYZING REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SELF IN SONG OF MYSELF

Summary/Abstract: Requiem for an Identity: Analyzing Representations of the Self in Song of Myself. The paper explores the introspection into the experience of selfhood by deconstructing the representation of identity into four stances – the poetic self, the self as other, the deistic/ heroic self and the bohemian self. The pairing into dual and opposing sets and their subsequent distribution in the framework of syzygial unity-in-duality is meant to render a more punctual picture of Whitman’s plethora of identifications in Song of Myself. The analysis sets into motion the identity of “I”, showing that the conundrum of identity is given by specific and independent identifications of the self with figures of the American society and imaginary. The validation of the multifaceted “I” embedded in the self-discovery is made by approaching the addressability of I-You autoscopies, in an attempt to restore identity through the filter of readership.

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