What God Means to Americans

In his 1855 poem “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman wrote: “I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least.” The line encapsulates his complex, ever-changing views about a creator, which were at once deeply spiritual and blazingly unconventional. One of America’s greatest poets didn’t adhere closely to any organized religion; instead, he envisioned God as an all-pervading presence that infuses every person, creature, and object in the universe.