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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is described with the line, “Wherever he goes men and women accept and desire him” in Section 39?

2. What are described as “making a rush for my veins” in Section 28?

3. What sound is described as emanating from flames in Section 26?

4. The poet describes taking himself “the exact dimensions of” whom, in Section 41?

5. The narrator claims in Section 32, “I think I could turn and live with animals, they’re so placid and” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way is the concept of “rebirth” illustrated in Section 38?

2. What does the poet question and attempt to answer in Section 40 of the poem?

3. How does Whitman address the faults of mankind in Section 32?

4. How is the motif of the journey described in Section 46 of the poem?

5. What sense and expression is discussed in the opening of Section 25?

6. What is implied of “the journey” of life in Section 44?

7. What does the poet remark about animals in the opening of Section 32?

8. What have the “sentries” done, according to the narrator in Section 28?

9. Why and how does Whitman turn to the sense of sound in Section 26?

10. What war is described in Sections 35 and 36? How does the poet describe the aftermath of the battle?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the poet’s references to the Texas War of Independence. What were Whitman’s political views regarding the war? How many soldiers died in the battles? How does Whitman describe the Battle of the Alamo in this section of the poem? What central battle is his focus?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the symbolism of the blade of grass that Whitman uses throughout “Song of Myself.” What have critics and scholars associated this motif with symbolically? How many times does the poet refer to the blade of grass in the poem? How does the grass relate to human existence?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Walt Whitman’s comparisons of those things that appear minute and/or mundane with those that appear vast and overshadowing. What is the poet’s point in these illustrations in Section 31? What conclusions does the poet reach?

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