Meaning of “I am the poet of the Body and…”

Song of Myself, 1882 text; the line belongs to Whitman’s intentionally expansive, bodily-spiritual poetic voice and should be read as poetry rather than literal theological doctrine.

Self-Reliance; Emerson gives the imperative while arguing for originality, self-trust, and resistance to imitation rather than dependence on another person’s model.

Beyond Good and Evil, section 287, Helen Zimmern public-domain translation, Project Gutenberg #4363. The represented witness prints “THE NOBLE SOUL HAS REVERENCE FOR ITSELF” in capitals; the frozen catalog keeps ordinary capitalization. Nietzsche’s claim belongs to his rank / nobility argument and is not an evidence-based rule of self-esteem.

Life Without and Life Within, Part I ‘Reviews,’ essay ‘Menzel's View of Gœthe,’ Project Gutenberg #39037. ‘For the soul seeks not adorers, but peers’ appears in Fuller's discussion of the youth of genius, mockers and worshippers, immediately contrasting blind worship with ‘intelligent sympathy.’ It remains nineteenth-century literary criticism and intellectual reflection rather than a universal social or relationship rule.

Near the close of “Song of Myself”; Whitman turns self-expression into a large, physical cry.

Song of Myself, 1882 text; the line follows “I exist as I am, that is enough,” which already exists separately in this collection.