In his article “Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass: The Making of a Sexual Revolution,” William H. Shurr writes, “Whitman discovered and codified a grand theory of sexuality in an era that seems to us, at this remove, to have been militantly repressive and confused on the subject” (126).

Examine “Song of Myself” in the Study Guide Course Anthology and determine why the poem is so intensely focused on sexuality.

Compose an essay of no more than 1,500 words, making use of “Song of Myself” in the Course Anthology, Shurr’s article “Leaves of Grass: The Making of a Sexual Revolution” and the Study Guide.