a uniform hieroglyphic

A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;

How could I answer the child?....I do not know what it is any more than he.

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,

A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,

Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark,           and say Whose?

Or I guess the grass is itself a child....the produced babe of the vegetation.

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic

(Leaves of Grass, 1855, pg. 13)

Another intriguing piece of historical context to consider with "Song of Myself" is this image of the "hieroglyphic," or more broadly, Egyptian imagery. It turns out that in the same year Whitman published the first edition of leaves of grass (1855), he also published "One of the Lessons Bordering Broadway: The Egyptian Museum," in Life Illustrated. In this article, he describes his own interest in all things Egyptian:


"The great 'Egyptian Collection' was well up in Broadway, and I got quite acquainted with Dr. Abbott, the proprietor—paid many visits there, and had long talks with him, in connection with my readings of many books and reports on Egypt—its antiquities, history, and how things and the scenes really look, and what the old relics stand for, as near we can now get. . . . As said, I went to the Egyptian Museum many, many times; sometimes had it all to myself—delved at the formidable catalogue—and on several occasions had the invaluable personal talk, correction, illustration and guidance of Dr. A. himself" (Walt Whitman, New York Dissected: A Sheaf of Recently Discovered Newspaper Articles by the Author of Leaves of Grass, (New York: Rufus Rockwell Wilson, 1936), 28.)



For more on this, take a look at New York Dissected (1936), which not only features the Life Illustrated article, but also other articles Whitman published on architecture, opera, and slavery. You could also take a look at Stephen Tapscott's article, "Whitman's Egypt in 'Song of Myself,'" which makes a case for reading the poem in terms of Egyptian imagery and mythology. 


What I think I'm most interested in is the specific image of the hieroglyph and how I might use that in a consideration of poem's focus on translation/reading and its recruitment of the reader. Most likely, there'll be more on this shortly...

(This 1853 poster advertisement for the museum comes to you courtesy of The Brooklyn Museum)