Whitman

Whitman would seem like the polar opposite of Emerson.  Emerson supported the individual while Whitman supported the group.  But actually Emerson supported Whitman because the poet was expressing his opinion and being an inspiration.  Whitman in the poem sees his soul as a part of everyone else’s soul, and that they come from the same soil.  That the parents of his parents are the same and that the schools are waiting for their original owner but never forgotten.  With houses full of scents and him smelling his own.

            Ok. So I have really no way to actually decipher this.  While I understand that he sees everyone connected, everything after that is lost on me.  I think by saying that “ My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air” he means that we are all American and that what connects us as a mass.  This line is also supported by 3^rd line”For Every atom that belonging to me as good belongs to you.  He is also trying to maintain the individual while in the mass.  I think the rest is his description of the United States or at least his home.