"Bardic Symbols" by Walt Whitman is another poem that exhibits Whitman's idea of "Self" and ties this philosophy into other things. America, Spirituality and Religion, and the Everyman are all a part of this idea of "Self". Spirituality seems to be a big part of this particular poem, because Whitman is talking about the ocean and currents and how they inspire him. He holds the power of the ocean in very high regard, like it is God or some other higher power. It influences Whitman and shapes his actions and ideas. He is paying homage to the ocean for this, and talks of the great inspiration he has been given.
For the most part, the poem is mostly a spiritual one, and is especially a spiritual experience for Whitman as well. This sense of self discovery that Whitman writes about is very inspirational as well. He speaks of the shoreline and seeks eternal self, thinking about the seaside as both an escape and as a prison at the same time. One one hand, the ocean is beautiful and Whitman loves to use it is an escape and a source for great and beautiful inspiration. But on the other hand, Whitman also sees the ocean as something that is keeping him prisoner by pulling him back in again and again, never letting him go because Whitman wants to continue to return; he loves the ocean. Whitman is also searching for himself while looking out at the ocean, and thinks the ocean is keeping things elusive and mysterious to continue to draw him in.
This is not really a traditional poem, and because of this I find it a little difficult to enjoy, especially because I do not like poetry very much in general. But the lack of a rhyme scheme in his poems is not something that I can really get through when trying to read through the poems, and I find some of the pauses in the poem hard to understand as well because they do not seem very well placed to me. However, Whitman is the poetry genius so I think I will have to trust his judgement with the placement of comma's and hyphens.
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