O Me! O Life! by: Walt Whitman

O Me! O Life!
by: Walt Whitman
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

My Response

The basis of the poem, although free verse, is a question and answer situation. The question was basically: What is the point of my being here, even if I am just as bad as the rest? What good will come of this? The answer: That I am here and I will leave behind a legacy, that I have an identity that matters. Through the Question part of the poem, he touches base with what he sees the world through wise eyes. The way he writes is not naive; he doesn’t write with the dewy eyes of the ignorant that see only the best and nothing less. Yet, he is in the midst of all of this foolishness, faithlessness, vain, trudging lot, and he’s holding himself against the fact that he doesn’t know his point in living or even being where he is. He just wants to know what the point in being alive is, a question I’m sure many of us have asked. This poem not only opened my eyes about life further than before, but let me know that we all have questions about life, even if this wasn’t directly addressed in the poem we read. I felt I could relate without having to think too hard. It just made sense, I guess.