Analyze Whitman's Emorsonian ideas American identity and self-reliance.

Directions: Whitman is often seen as the writer who truly embraces those Emersonian ideas of American identity and self-reliance.  Discuss, using examples from our readings this seminar, how Whitman’s poetry focuses on specific “American” themes and ideals.  Your best approach to this is to pick a specific selection or two and explicate that selection in your response.  This will prevent you from just broadly “reporting” rather than analyzing.

Baym, N., & Levine, R. (2013). The Norton anthology of American literature (8th ed.). Pages 1005-1069