Essay on Walt Whitman

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Walt Whitman Walt Whitman was a romantic American poet. In his poem “I Sing the Body Electric” he chants praises to the body as well as to the soul, and found beauty in them. The rhetorical devices used in stanzas 4, 5 and 6 help support the message of how and why the body is beautiful. The first thing Walt Whitman uses to help his message get across is by using imagery. In stanza 5 he’s very exaggerator when it comes to showing his love. “Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of love, white-blow and delirious juice”(60). It’s like endless amount of love going around to one another. He doesn't only show imagery by showing how much love there is but also by showing imagery of why he loves and admires women. He admires women for birthing.
“This is the nucleus—after the child is born of woman, the man is born of woman; This is the bath of birth—this is the merge of small and large, and the outlet again.”(64-65).

She is like the cycle and gateway to the life of a beautiful body. She contains everything that moves and balances the qualities of conceiving daughters that will make more daughters and sons. The second thing you see plenty of times throughout the poem is repetition. He uses this purposely to get his readers to know exactly the type of message he is conveying of why and how the body is beautiful. The main thing that is being repeated around is the “body is sacred”.
“The man’s body is sacred, and the woman’s body is sacred;
No matter who it is, it is sacred”(83-84).
The reason why he repeats this so many times around the poem is because he wants his readers to know how valuable the body really is. The body is beyond special. The body is like a temple, it’s pure; it’s something that we must protect. The third rhetorical device Walt Whitman uses is eulogy. He praises the body and all it’s values.
“I have perceiv’d that to be with
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