The entire universe and a single blade of grass: what do they have in common? According to Walt Whitman, everything. Whitman believed that everything, even the smallest blade of grass, was as important and special as anything else, and he demonstrates this through parts of many of his poems. Like the Transcendentalist writers and poets who came before him, who believed in the concept of an “oversoul” that connected even the smallest and most insignificant things to everything else, Whitman had a deep respect for the “little things” in life and in the world . around him, which contributed to the development of his unique worldview and writing style, and this is especially evident in two of his poems: "Song of Myself" and "On the Beach at Night". Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay “Song of Myself,” arguably Whitman's best-known work, is a collection of scenes that Whitman weaves together on a journey of self-learning. discovery and personal identity, while “On the Beach at Night” tells the story of a young girl and her father stargazing on the beach. With these and other poems, Whitman proposes the idea that even things that might at first seem insignificant are actually important parts of the very structure of the world. About halfway through "Song of Myself", Whitman dedicates a section of the poem: Section 31 - to his idea of ​​"equal importance" in nature, writing that: I believe that a leaf of grass is nothing but the work done by the stars , and a pismire be equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the wren's egg...And the tightest hinge in my hand sets all machinery in contempt...And a mouse is a miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. In these lines, Whitman argues that the smallest and most insignificant things in life - a leaf of grass, a grain of sand, his hand, a mouse - are still miracles of the world on a par with the stars themselves. By comparing small things like these to things that are generally considered grander, more impressive, or important, such as machinery, sculpture, and the “parlors of heaven,” Whitman is able to more clearly emphasize his point of view and beliefs. Few would typically consider comparing a mere brunette to the great, magnificent halls of heaven, yet this is exactly what Whitman does in this section of the poem - and it is what gives his words the power to bring the his beliefs for the readers. While this section is the most obvious example of the theme of equal importance in nature, it is certainly not the only place the theme is conveyed in “Song of Myself.” Section 15, near the beginning of the poem, is another section devoted to this theme, although it is more veiled in this section than in the one discussed previously. Most of this section is devoted to a long and extensive list of ordinary, seemingly unrelated things. people going about their daily lives: The carpenter prepares his table... The raccoon hunters cross the Red River regions... The crew of the fish school has repeated layers of halibut in the hold... The floor workers they are laying the floor, the tinners are tinning the roof, the masons are calling for mortar... At the end of the section, however, Whitman links all these individuals and their lives together, writing that, "...These tend inward towards me, and I tend outward to them, and such as it is to be of these more or less I am, and of these one and all I weave the song of myself this, Whitman proposes the idea that each of these ordinary and “simple” individuals, the working class of the world, plays an essential role in weaving the.