What is the poetic form of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself?

• A. Blank verse
• B. Sonnet
• C. Free verse
• D. Ballad

Answer: (C)

The main concept here is how the poem is structured in terms of rhythm and line length. Song of Myself is written in free verse, meaning there’s no regular meter or rhyme scheme guiding the lines. The cadence comes from natural speech and the poet’s expansive, conversational voice, with long lines that break irregularly and a rhythm that shifts as the thoughts flow. This approach fits Whitman’s aims of democracy and openness, letting the speaker speak in a more inclusive, everyday voice rather than conforming to a tight formal pattern.

A traditional blank verse would still have a steady meter, typically unrhymed iambic pentameter, which this poem does not. A sonnet is a fixed form of fourteen lines with a chosen rhyme scheme and a turn of thought, which again doesn’t apply here. A ballad usually tells a story in a songlike, often rhymed form with repeated refrains, which also doesn’t match the free-flowing, exploratory nature of Whitman’s poem.

So, the best description is free verse—the form that matches the poem’s open, irregular rhythm and expansive, inclusive voice.