Why write Song of Myself in free verse?

• A. To imitate traditional sonnet sequence
• B. To imitate epic meter
• C. To rely on rhymed couplets
• D. To evoke biblical rhetoric and prophetic tone akin to Hebrew poetry

Answer: (D)

Free verse gives Whitman the freedom to deliver a voice that feels like a sermon or prophecy, which fits the poem’s expansive, inclusive project. By forgoing fixed meter and rhyme, the lines breathe with natural cadences and long, breath-like spans that can rise and fall as the speaker’s thoughts and visions unfold. This looseness supports a voice that speaks with authority and urgency, addressing the reader directly and sweeping across people, places, and ideas in a single, ongoing discourse. The result resembles biblical rhetoric in its use of direct address, exhortation, repetition, and grand, panoramic scope, traits that echo Hebrew poetry’s tradition of proclamation and moral vision. If Whitman had clung to formal meters or couplets, the sense of boundless, democratic vitality—the key energy of Song of Myself—would feel contrived rather than prophetic. The free verse delivery thus best captures the intended tone and purpose.