Walt Whitman's A Child Said, What Is The Grass

“The smallest sprouts show there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life”, declares Walt Whitman, an American poet and nature enthusiast, in his classic poem: ‘A Child Said, What Is The Grass’? Whitman relates the roots of grass to the circle of life. The poem drops us into a scene of a child asks an existential question about grass. The author, unsure how to respond, takes the reader through his stream of consciousness, pondering the existence of grass in relation to the existence of humanity and even himself. My belief is that although at first he is unable to summon a response, he concludes that the life of grass is akin to that of humanity. The setting paints an image of a young child approaching the writer with a
“And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.”, Whitman conveys, depicting a metaphor that like humans, grass is just living until it fades color and dies. “It may be you are from old people and from women, and from offspring taken soon out of their mother's laps”. Here, Whitman truly reveals himself as a realist. He gives bestows the reader the cold truth that children cared by their mothers will eventually grow old and parish. He submits this to be a very dark reality: “This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers”. But he doesn’t leave the reader hanging on a dark note. He continues: “And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.” telling us that this is all for a reason. He goes on to say he wishes he could tell us what has become of the children that were once on their mother's lap, that have grown old and died. And although he doesn’t know where, he says, “They are alive and well somewhere. The smallest sprouts show there is really no death”. To me, here he is giving two optimistic answers. The first being that there is an afterlife for all the people and grass that has passed, and that they live well elsewhere. The second is that they continue on in another life as a reincarnated being. Their life will always have a purpose as it never truly ends, it just gives birth elsewhere. To me, this is where Whitman finds a satisfying answer. He is a realist and acknowledges that tragedy exists, but has a purpose as part of an endless cycle of life and