This long poem, a piece of Leaves of Grass, is a spontaneous self-portrait in prose form, celebrating Whitman’s individuality while acknowledging how all humanity is alike (like “leaves of grass”).
“I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,/
Nature without check with original energy.”
Whitman’s consistent and unequivocal comment on life is to live it, every day, every moment, to savor and enjoy and be ultra-conscious of your own facticity:
“My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the
passing of blood and air through my lungs,
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and
dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,”
A second, related theme is that the universe is infinite, that our immediate existence is but a fraction of all that is:
“You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are
millions of suns left,)”
Whitman’s “song” is that there is no limit to our experience as living creatures, as spirits given the blessing of our existence. While it is difficult for us as common men to see the grandeur, Whitman manages to point to it and invite our souls to celebrate the fact of being.
These themes are so large in concept, so vital to our understanding of Whitman's life-message, that paraphrasing or condensing them is "murdering to dissect," that is the "life" of the poem itself is diminished; reading the poem is all the "analysis" you need in order to understand his connection to the reader.
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