The novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse examines the life of Siddhartha, the main character as he goes on a journey searching for Nirvana. Likewise, the poem “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman also depicts a man’s journey of personal discovery. Whitman begins his poem exclaiming to an unknown listener that is “large and contains multitudes” (Whitman 8). With these words, the poet is saying he is a complex person who is interested about the world. The poet sees the world as exciting and multifaceted. Similar to his vision of the world, the poet’s soul is convoluted and contradictory. Like Whiteman, Siddhartha has a restless soul. For example, “his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace, his heart was not still” (Hesse 5). Moreover, …show more content…
Whitman’s wildly makes loud animal noises because he is seeking for attention. Moreover, the poet’s voice illustrates to the reader is, that he is in part of nature by its essence and power. Whitman considers himself to be part of nature when “The spotted hawk swoops by…” (13). As a result, his voice gives him the strength that he feels to express his physically powerful spirit through his voice. Furthermore, the message of the line is about one “self”. Whitman’s “yawp” is a new language that no one ever heard of. Even though the poet had not “tamed” himself, and went through life transcendence. Likewise to Siddhartha, he also went through a life changing experience. Siddhartha found his true inner “self” by becoming one with nature such as Whitman. Siddhartha opens up his senses for the first time since beginning, by looking “around him as if the world as if seeing the world for the first time” (Hesse 39), and later on, “listened silently to the water…” (Heese108). As a final point, Whitman’s “barbaric yawp” is a voice that helped him went through life transcendence equally to Siddhartha opening his senses with