He is unapologetic and straightforward in his writing. In “Calamus,” Whitman narrates falling in love and offering his hand, his life and his affection for another man. In Whitman’s “Calamus,” he narrates a love story of him and another man- a story that he suffers for, but in today’s world is celebrated as a proclamation of the beauty of homosexual relations. This sense of self-love can be particularly difficult for those who enjoy sexual and romantic acts that society has deemed unnatural and wrong. Whitman writes of celebrating himself along with celebrating the world-celebrating ourselves and each other at the same time. The idea of self-love and getting to know oneself is essential to understanding Whitman. This line sets the scene for the entire poem as a means of loving and accepting everything and every person on earth. In fact, the first line of “Song of Myself” is, “I celebrate myself, and sing to myself” (Whitman 1312). In Whitman’s writing, he analyzes the human experience as it is shared by everyone. Whitman’s courageous language, use of free verse enforces a positive message to everybody, and especially to those LGBTQ+ individuals who struggle with shame and acceptance with themselves or within a society, he does that while also encouraging people to act in order to shape the government as a reflection of its people. These are essential concepts of democracy and transcendentalism.

This bravery communicates a message of self-love and a sense of oneness between every person on this planet. Whitman admirably chose not to censor his poetry to fit society’s hateful ideologies as he expresses his beautiful relationship with another man. His boss even fired him from his job as a clerk. Reviewers called his poetry “obscene” and “that horrible sin not to be named among Christians’” (Schmidgall). When Walt Whitman first published his 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, over a hundred years before the society even considered accepting homosexual behaviors, it included the “Calamus” sequence that describes his romance with another man. Homosexuality has been viewed as unnatural and immoral throughout history.

A song of myself