What General Has a Good Army
What General Has a Good Army - meaning Summary
Happiness as Self-sufficiency
Whitman asserts that genuine happiness must arise from within one’s own self. Using the image of a general and an army, the poem equates inner strength and self-sufficiency with true contentment. It rejects reliance on others for happiness, stressing that joy cannot be transferred or created externally—just as one cannot "beget or conceive a child by others." The tone is declarative and individualistic.
Read Complete AnalysesWHAT General has a good army in himself, has a good army; He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy, But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you can beget or conceive a child by others.
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