Whitman’s concept of the self as illustrated in the poem Song of Myself is radically different from what Thoreau and Emerson envisioned in their works, Walden and Nature respectively. Whitman advocates for conformity while Thoreau and Emerson subscribe to individualism. For Whitman, the self should be unified with other selves and nature as well, a view that is castigated by Thoreau and Emerson who feel that the individual self should be self-reliant and ought not to conform to the environment. In the poem Song of Myself Whitman presents the self for modern times in various ways. First, Whitman adopted the direct address style of rendering the poem. He takes the conversational tone in order to appeal to all the others in an effort to reconcile selves to create unity: “And what I assume you shall assume” (Whitman p. 1, line 2). This is contrary to Emerson’s impersonal approach in his essay, Nature. Whitman seems to be inviting others to join him in his great quest for unity. This could have been informed by the racial segregation and discrimination that was rife in America at the time when Whitman was constructing the poem. Whitman’s poem not only addresses the audience in general, but is also directed to specific individuals. In the poem, the speaker is observing nature when the presence of a lady comes by. He asks: “Where are you off to, lady? for I see you”. This is a further illustration of the poet’s quest to bring everybody on board. He also does not hesitate to address various elements of nature in order to achieve unity with the environment. To the earth, he says: “Smile, O voluptuous cool-breath’d earth!” (Whitman p.1, line 9). And to the sea: “You sea! I resign myself to you also…” (Whitman p. 22, line 1). This denotes the speaker’s attempt to reconcile with nature. On the other hand, Emerson and Thoreau vouch for solitude and self-reliance. Emerson’s essay begins thus: “To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society” (Emerson chap. 1, par. 1). It implies that unity with others in the immediate environment is of secondary importance. The same view is held by Thoreau, to whom nature is nothing, but a source of solitude. Any attempt to reach out to nature in order to make peace and nature is not considered in friendly terms. Whitman also redefines the self to the modern times through repetition. Repetition serves the purpose of developing the plot of the poem as well as enhancing its subject matter. The style is quite appropriate in the poem as it is used deliberately to advance the poet’s motive. In his attempt at unifying people and nature, the speaker has to lay emphasis on certain aspects. For example, in order to foster equality among people, he says: “Whoever degrades another degrades me” (Whitman p. 22, line 7). This was perhaps meant to break the barriers that existed between the blacks and the whites in America at that time. Whitman’s determined pursuit for equality in society is quite relevant to the modern times. Presently, there is widespread inequality the world over, manifested politically economically, religiously and even socially. Basically, humanity is dichotomized into two groups: the haves and the have-nots. The former despis