Walt Whitman

I have never really been a fan of Whitman. I'm not sure exactly what it is about his poetry that I don't like, but it has never really caught my interest. His poem Song of Myself kind-of rubs me the wrong way. I understand that as humans, we are all amazing creatures, but this poem just seems self-centered to me. His saying that there is nothing more wonderful than he, not even God, doesn't resonate well with me. We are all made in God's image, which makes us beautiful, but God is the most wonderful of all because He is the Creator. So maybe it's just Whitman's assertions on this topic that rub me the wrong way. He does use beautiful imagery and metaphors, such as grass being the hair on graves. He obviously loves nature and believes that nature has an impact spiritually on us. And I do like these parts of his poem. However, the more sensual and sexual parts of his poem are quite awkward for me to read. I couldn't really tell if there was a woman involved in the scenes he was describing in his poetry, or whether it was nature that was unbuttoning his shirt or what. Maybe if I understood a little better what he was referring to, it would be less awkward. I don't know. But I do know that it made me slightly uncomfortable to read this type of thing in his poetry. I'm not trying to offend anyone out there who does really enjoy reading Whitman, but as for myself, I'm not really a fan.