Point of View

“Miracles” is written from a first-person singular perspective. This highly personal point of view is evident from its very first lines. To the somewhat generalizing rhetorical question opening “Miracles,” Whitman immediately draws back from such generality and instead gives a highly subjective answer drawing from his own experiences – “Why, who makes much of a miracle? / As to me I know of nothing else but miracles” (1-2). In that vein, Whitman’s poem continues to emphasize the great importance he places on his own subjective experiences, interspersed with the use of first-person pronouns such as “I” and “me.” For example, Whitman begins each subsequent stanza after the first one reemphasizing his own subjectivity with the self referential phrasing “To me” (17, 21). Notably, Whitman’s “I” does not shy away from the intimacy associated with self expression. He counts within his personal catalog of miracles the acts of...