Song Of Myself By Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was a man who believed in individuality and self-teaching. This is displayed throughout many of his poem and literary works. In Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography, it is said that Whitman was a teacher of others, even though he did believe in a method of self-teaching. (Reynolds) He saw self-education as a very productive and effective way of being taught. While this was one view, he also believed being taught by another was beneficial. Walt Whitman’s pedagogy involved the belief of self-education and experiential learning rather than just listening to lecturing. One of Whitman’s first views of his pedagogy was an experiential outlook. This meant that he believed that you would learn and retain more information by actually going through the experiences yourself, and having to sort it out alone. If you had to solve the problem alone, without a helping hand, that would obviously cause you to take a
closer look and actually learn every aspect of the subject. This is suggested in the Learn’d Astronomer. Also, many people learn better and more easily with hands-on experiences. By facing the struggles alone, it will broaden your mind to more information, thus causing you to gain a greater understanding. From Figures of Transcendence in Whitman’s Poetry, it is said that Whitman wanted to “shed light on his desire for simplicity, and at the same time disclose the depth and profundity of those experiences.” (Sarracino) For his pedagogy, Whitman was interested in striving for simpleness in learning, but also achieving great, detailed knowledge from that learning. Whitman was a very radical, blunt man. He even went as far as saying “Destroy the teacher” in one of his Song poems. He was very radical in his poems, and these were some of his most radical words. This just proved how serious he was about the fact that a person should learn by himself, and take his or her experiences to heart. From Masculine Landscapes: Walt Whitman and the Homoerotic Text, it’s said that Whitman has given his readers the demanding choice of which, where, and how. “He has not so much given us leave as made us honor bound to read skeptically, dangerously: ‘He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.’” Whitman challenges you to challenge your teachers, and see if they are really giving you correct information; teaching you to the best of their abilities. (Fone) These are his most “penetrating” lines, and give you the most to think about. Whitman really wants you to challenge your professors, and he definitely expresses this when it comes to his pedagogy. The last part regarding Whitman’s pedagogy is his belief that the young defeat the old, they have the ability to be better.
Because there are young people in the world, the world will become a better place. He believed that the youth were the joy of the world. The youth are full of so many opportunities, and they are the future of all generations. In Song of Myself, Whitman asks, “What do you think has become of the young and the old men?” He’s wondering where each have gotten. Obviously, as you grow older, your body deteriorates, so the old men are becoming less great. But as you grow, you develop great new aspects in your life. So the younger men have progressed in their growth and knowledge. Thus, the younger people are the better. In Theorists of Economic Growth from David Hume to the Present, it’s said that the younger people are contributors and major thinkers who have shaped the evolution of theories. Whitman believed this was true. (Rostow) In his pedagogy, Whitman saw the younger people as the upcoming great new aspect of the
world. Altogether, Whitman believed in his pedagogy that it was better to be self-taught, without a teacher, and that the younger people had a greater chance of picking this up more easily. It is better to start young when you are learning basic, new things. Also, it is good to start young when you are learning to teach yourself. These were all great aspects in Whitman’s pedagogy, and he had some very great views of this way of learning. Calamus: A Series of Letters Written During the Years 1868-1880 by Walt Whitman, just furthers the point of his belief in the younger generation. (Doyle) Whitman saw the younger generation as the ones to really bring his pedagogy to life.