Identity presents itself in numerous forms across society, its diversity is reflected in not only the creeds and colours of our varied nations but also our internal, personal perspective. This essay explores Walt Whitman’s democratic style as a suitable medium to explore identity through philosophical and psychological concepts of ‘self’ in relation to the collective human experience. His unique and existential voice emerged in the post-transcendentalist mid-nineteenth century, a product of intellectual thought influenced by the likes of Emerson and Fuller. His poetry, particularly Leaves of Grass, also represents a more abstract concept of ‘formlessness’, further explored in this essay by comparing the Jungian concept of ‘self’ and ‘persona’ to Walt Whitman’s expression of ‘soul’ and identity.

            While reading and absorbing the vernacular lines of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass’, we might consider from where his perspectives arose. When the American Renaissance movement from the 1850s to the early 1860s, initiated a new sense of community, post-romantic ideas such as ‘free religion’ had been slowly establishing beneath the surface. The transcendentalist movement advocated for these ideas (Schober, p.189), while in response, Whitman seemed to take a more remote stance, becoming the ‘observer’ of events while maintaining a central identity rooted in connection to ‘one’ and the other. His words in ‘Song of Myself’ offer a philosophical expansion into the world of multiplicity, even before psychological theory such as James’ ‘Multiplicity of Identity’ transpired as an academic concept. Through the ‘individual tongue’ of Whitman’s faithful linguistics, the idea of multiplicity is presented in a remarkably simple yet resonant style to highlight how the foundations of human relationship are sustained by a unity of consciousness. In Leaves of Grass, Whitman brings to our attention his panoramic view of the diverse social network he observes through daily experience, seeing himself as not separate to the wider community, but a part of the intricate web of connection between all lifeforms: ‘For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you’ (Song of Myself, l. 3). With a glance to how this theme occurs in his symbolic piece As I Ebb’d With the Ocean of Life, Whitman conveys a similar metaphoric style: ‘A few sands and dead leaves to gather / Gather, and merge myself as part of the sands and drift’ (As I Ebb’d With the Ocean of Life, ll. 23-24). This continuity extends his vision of identity into a fluid, collective construct rather than a rigid, linear form. Returning to Leaves of Grass, Whitman even goes as far as to present primal, animalistic character as belonging to his own elemental nature:

 

‘The sharphoofed moose of the north, the cat on the housesill, the chickadee, the prairie-dog,

The litter of the grunting sow as they tug at her teats,

The brood of the turkeyhen, and she with her halfspread wings,

I see in them and myself the same old law.’ (Song of Myself, ll. 242 – 245)

 

         Within this illustration there hides a depth of compassion, a natural, Buddhist precept of equality and non-judgement. By using a colloquial tone, Whitman expresses a familiar affection for others, his casual style allowing a wider audience to engage with his literature through correlation and inclusive thought: ‘The young fellow drives the express-wagon…. I love him though I do not know him’ (Song of Myself, l. 274).

 

         This section seeks to examine how the concept of war may also be concealed within his text; in ‘Song of Myself’ Whitman repeatedly confronts the boundaries separating humanity through personal identity, bringing everyday characters into introspection with thoughtful consideration while remaining central himself:

 

‘Comrade of raftsmen and coalmen – comrade of all who shake hands and welcome to drink and meat;

A learner with the simplest, a teacher of the thoughtfulest,

A novice beginning experient of myriads of seasons,

Of ever hue and trade and rank, of every caste and religion,

Not merely of the New World but of Africa Europe of Asia…. A wandering savage,

A farmer, mechanic, or artist …. A gentleman, sailor, lover or quaker,

A prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician or priest.

 

I resist anything better than my own diversity,

And breathe the air and leave plenty after me,

And am not stuck up, and am in my place.’  (Song of Myself, ll. 326-349)

 

         Is separation not the root cause of conflict? Whitman’s empathetic stance and graceful humility are key elements in bringing us back home to ourselves, he asks us to question our realities and expand our perspectives beyond the narrow-minded infrastructure that is often presented within a society ruled by subjection. Further to this theme, Frie provides the discussion with an alternative view, stating that ‘multiplicity needs to be combined with an acknowledgement of continuity, however minimal’. His notion that ‘this continuity is evidenced in our pre-reflective self-awareness, embodiment and habitual activities’ (Frie, p.1) is also reflected in Whitman’s Song of Myself:

 

‘Looking in at the shop-windows in Broadway the whole forenoon… pressing the flesh of my nose to the thick plate-glass,

Wandering the same afternoon with my face turned up to the clouds;

My right and left arms round the sides of two friends and I in the middle;

Coming home with the bearded and dark-cheeked bush-boy… riding behind him at the drape of day;

Far from the settlements studying the print of animal’s feet, or the moccasin print’ (Song of Myself, ll.778-782)

 

         Whitman brings virtue to simplicity, finding significance in ordinary connections and discovering manifestations of identity within them: ‘All these I feel or am’ (Song of Myself, l. 833). His mind-opening, lyrical form which infiltrates perception beyond what is defined as ‘human’ connects us to a deeper layer of our psychological composition and universal, spiritual connection. This connection has been defined and made reality by a Huayan Buddhist concept described delightfully in Miyazawa Kenji’s Indra’s Net. The Japanese late-nineteenth century poet perceived the world in a more etheric, celestial demeanour, but Kenji and Whitman exhibit an extraordinary resemblance in their free-flowing, casual form and fluidity of language and concept:

 

‘Indra’s spectral net vibrated radiantly as if burning, its fibers more fine than a spider’s web, its construction more elaborate than that of hypha, all blending together transparently, purely, in a billion intermingled parts.’ (Kenji, Pulvers & Law, 2010)

 

         The Net of Indra is a dominant metaphor for the interpenetration of one phenomenon upon another, it symbolises an interdependence between all things, that one cannot exist without the other’s influence: ‘To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow / All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means’ (Song of Myself, ll. 404-405). Whitman frequently returns to ideas of equality and infinity, providing the vehicle for profound, reflective contemplation of the internal human experience. To define identity construct is a challenge undertaken by many post-renaissance authors and psychologists, and I closely consider the Jungian ‘Model of the Psyche’ developed by Carl Jung in the early-twentieth century. Jung describes the different aspects of our psychological constitution as ‘functioning rather like secondary selves that contribute to the whole.’ This definition mirrors William James’ idea that ‘a man has many social selves as there are individuals who recognise him and carry an image of him in his mind,’ (James, 1890) whereas the Jungian perspective focuses entirely on how this occurs through our internal, and perhaps eternal, composition. Whitman touches on two contrasting concepts within Jung’s model by fulfilling the two roles of ‘poet of the body’ and the ‘poet of the soul’ (Song of Myself, ll.422-423), but we’ll return to Whitman’s perspective after a further exploration of Jungian thought.

         Jung divided the human identity into a model of different parts (Journal Psyche & Authors, 1995). The ‘ego’, as is, the ‘centre of consciousness’, defines the ‘part of the psyche where our conscious awareness resides, our sense of identity and existence’ (Journal Psyche & Authors, 1995). In Jungian terms, the ego is just one small portion of the larger ‘self’ which links together our inner and outer worlds while forming how we relate to that which is external (Journal Psyche & Authors, 1995). The ‘collective unconscious’ however, describes the unconscious ‘blueprints’ which collaborate as a full expression within the psyche and are often the root of our own ‘storytelling’, or alternatively, creative expression (Journal Psyche & Authors, 1995). The ‘persona’ is the part of the psyche which directs our social interaction and the broader ‘self’ is the collaboration of all the fragmented parts of consciousness, defined as the ‘drive toward fulfilment and wholeness’ (Journal Psyche & Authors, 1995).

         So, when ‘multiplicity’ is defined as considering ‘the presence of two of more selves sharing one body’, what is there to say about the presence of ‘self’ beyond personality? There seems to me a reason that any definition of ‘self’ is lacking logical and analytical construct, and Whitman seems to agree by embodying the deeper meaning of the concept without a need for psychological definition. By consistently returning to his own ‘I’ within his poetry, he encourages identification with the more holistic ‘self’ rather than that of the ‘ego’ or ‘persona’: “Both in and out of the game, and watching and wondering at it”(Song of Myself, l. 70). He observes the projections of the ego, the many personalities created by another’s perception of him (and his perception of another) while raising the awareness of each interaction as a reflection of his own internal dynamics. The unconscious blueprints play their ‘game’ while the whole, embodied ‘self’ remains unmoved by its experience, or as told judiciously in his text: ‘But that before all my arrogant poems the real Me / stands yet untouched, untold, altogether unreach’d’ (As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life, l. 28). Whitman’s transcendentalist tone takes us on a journey beneath the literary surface and into the depths of simply ‘Being’. His writing compels us to go beyond the intentional comprehension of spiritual nature by drawing on tangible, human experience. He defies logic while staying rooted on solid ground, he expands our awareness while simultaneously simplifying existence with outstanding prowess.

         The final aspect of Whitman’s poetry I will investigate is the idea of ‘formlessness’, a concept frequently addressed by the innovative ‘free’ style typical of the Romantic period and inexplicably linked to both the Romantic period from the late-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century and the Meiji Era of Japan from 1868 to 1912 during which European literary translations opened the doors to a western influence and subsequently welcomed the modernisation of its language and literature. The idea of existence beyond physical form is one speculated across cultures, particularly in the Japanese ‘civilisation and enlightenment’ movement of the Meiji Era and despite Whitman’s subtle mentioning of ‘formlessness’ in Leaves of Grass, its potent presence leaves a lasting impression: ‘And that we call Being/ To be in any form, what is that?’ (Song of Myself, l. 611). Folsom and Merril’s expansive criticism seems to align with this school of thought, detailing Whitman’s stanza as ‘a comparable sensual experience’ and noting the collective experience as ‘each a part of the whole to which we have all belonged from the beginning’ (Folsom and Merril, 2016).

         By comparing the Eastern and Western poets of the nineteenth century, a common theme rooted in liberation has arisen, clarifying how the formation of modernised, casual literature influenced the literary art of its time. Whitman’s poetry clearly pushes the boundaries of how ‘identity’ is perceived by the average human, exploring vast plains of existentialism and interrelation while discovering a fluid, dynamic and somewhat impersonal identity from within. Does the evolution of humanity ride on philosophical expansion of thought? Have we adapted to this free-thinking, ‘enlightened’ point of view? Or must we rely on limited, systemic constructivism to embody our complex nature? Walt Whitman embarks on an elaborative expedition through the nature of duality, seeking personified awareness through an Elysian-type vision while grounding his school of thought into foundational human nature. It’s really no wonder that his poetry is said to have ‘revolutionised American Verse’; Whitman was a literary voice that not only influenced the unified collective, but spanned race, nationality and situation, searching for a deeper meaning through human existence and encouraging the evolution of philosophical thinking as a result.

 

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References:

 

Eve, Z., K. Heyes and S. Parry, ‘Here’s Dissociative Identity Disorder, and We’re Not That’: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Exploration of Multiplicity Experiences’ in Psychosis, 17, (2024) pp.149-62 <accessed 22 November 2025>

 

Frie, Roger, ‘Identity, Narrative, and Lived Experience after Postmodernity: Between Multiplicity and Continuity’, in Journal of Phenominal Psychology, 42 (2011), p.1

 

Ghadimi, Amin, ‘Civilisation and Enlightenment in Early Meiji Japan’ in The New Cambridge History of Japan, 2 (2023) pp.689-738

 

Griffin, Larry D. ‘Human Voice’, in The Walt Whitman Archive, ed. by Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998)

 

James, William, The Principles of Psychology, Vol 1. (New York: Henry Holt and Co, 1890)

 

Journal Psyche and Authors, ‘The Jungian Model of the Psyche’ in Journal Psyche <accessed 26 November 2025>

 

Jung, Carl, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, translated by R.F.C. Hull (New York: Pantheon, 1960)

 

Kenji, Miyazawa, Roger Pulvers and Jane Marie Law, ‘Indra’s Net’, The Asia-Pacific Journal, 8 (2010) <accessed 25 November 2025>

 

Priest, Graham ‘The Net of Indra’, in The Moon Points Back (Oxford University Press USA, 2015)

 

Robinson, David M. ‘The Free Religion Movement’, in The Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism, ed. By Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, Laura Dassow Walls and Joel Myerson (Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 617-628 <accessed 25 November 2025>

 

Saito, Mino, ‘The Power of Translated Literature in Japan: The Introduction of New Expressions through Translation in the Meiji Era (1868-1912), in Perspectives, 24 (2015) <accessed 25 November 2025>

 

Schober, Regina, ‘Transcendentalism’, in Walt Whitman in Context, ed. by Joanna Levin and Edward Whitley (Cambridge University Press, 2018), pp. 189-97 <accessed 22 November 2025>

 

Exploring Multiplicity in Transcendentalist and Post-Romantic Literature: How Walt Whitman’s Poetry expanded Unified Consciousness through Philosophical Expression