rich no poor no high no low He begins with a shared note of brotherhood He begins the poem saying I celebrate myself and sing myself And what I assume you shall assume For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you These lines make all people one The poet s atoms belong to everyone This is the spirit of democracy Equality comes through nature not through power The poet unites all in a single human bond Unity between Self and Others Whitman s self is not selfish or proud His I means the voice of many He believes the self grows by sharing with others The poet becomes one with every man and woman He writes Clear and sweet is my soul and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul Here he removes the border between himself and others The same soul flows through everyone This unity builds the true foundation of democracy No one is outside his sympathy or song Love for Common People Whitman loves common people with deep faith Farmers workers sailors and servants fill his lines He lists their jobs and joys with equal care He honors daily labor and honest sweat His poem becomes a mirror for the people He says that every life is beautiful The smell of grass the sound of streets all belong to one world By giving place to every voice he makes his poetry truly democratic He finds dignity in simple lives Equality in Nature and Death Whitman finds democracy in nature and death Nature treats all with equal law Grass grows on rich and poor graves alike The poet declares The smallest sprout shows there is really no death Life continues in every form of being All goes onward and outward nothing collapses And to die is different from what any one supposed and luckier Here equality reaches its highest point Death unites all souls under one eternal law No rank survives only the shared flow of life Faith in Freedom and Individual Power Whitman s democracy also means freedom of the soul Each person must walk their own road He advises Not I not any one else can travel that road for you You must travel it for yourself Freedom gives meaning to equality Everyone must find the truth within themselves He accepts all contradictions in one large self In summary Song of Myself is a grand song of democracy It combines equality freedom and love into a single vision He sees the same soul in all human hearts He turns poetry into a language accessible to all classes Nature work and death unite people together He trusts in freedom and personal strength His democratic spirit is kind vast and eternal Through his voice every man becomes a poet and every life becomes a song