Poem Review: O Me! O Life!

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.

Commentary: This poem O Me! O Life! by the American poet Walt Whitman has had a huge impact on me for the past ~11 years. The poem was featured in the movie Dead Poets Society as well as an Apple commercial from 2014. The narrator talks about a part of the human condition that we all grapple with: identity. Who are we individually as people? Will any of us ever amount to anything? When we look around at society and see people all doing their own thing, we realize there are ~8.1 billion people on earth and we feel small. Everyone seems to be chasing after the same things: success (“of eyes that vainly crave the light”), material goods (“of the objects mean”), and struggling along in our pursuits (“of the struggle ever renew’d”). In our chase for conventional success that ultimately leads to “poor results”, we’ve become “faithless” and “foolish”.

There is another way: just by existing, you and I are unique. In the annals of human history, each of us are unique creations endowed by our creator. Nobody like us has ever existed before, nor will any future person think and act exactly as you or I do. This realization brings clarity, calmness, and presence. Most importantly, it frees us up mentally. Don’t follow the crowd, rather we should trailblaze a path that speaks to who we truly are as people. Express yourself and do what you do, always!