When You Have Seen It All

In poem 7 Whitman talks about birth and death, two opposites that apparently we should feel equally about. He says this here: "Has any one supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him or her, it is just as lucky to die, and I know it. I pass death with the dying and birth with the new wash'd babe…" (poem 7) This maxim means that life and death are but event and (taking from the fact Whitman is a transcendentalist) these events are part of a greater scheme that transcends everything. This idea of fate he continues in the following sentence where he said: "and am not contain'd between my hat and boots; and persue manifold objects no two alike and every one good…" (poem 7). This means that once free from earthly constraints he is able to see the greater plan that exists even if he does not completely understand it and thus he sees how earth and everything attached to it is good simply because it is part of this greater plan.

At this point we see Whitman taking the position of a very wise person and from that very high mountain unreachable to many he tells this poem to us. This, is a contrast to the first poem where he says: "…and what I assume you shall assume; for every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you" (poem 1) This means that he is bringing himself to our (the reader) level and this being the first poem in the book can be a misleading statement considering how unreachable he seems in the seventh poem.

Although the position of the author and our ability for him to reach us changes dramatically between poems this is a necessary change. Without this change explaining something like fate would be impossible. Radically different themes require an according change in tone. This reflects the way people learn about different things. Some themes must be told by an equal an others we would rather hear from a godlike voice. When he talks about his position on fate on the seventh poem he uses a voice that uses its experience in order to make itself superior to the reader and instruct him. He probably uses this device because sometimes we need someone that has seen it all to teach us something.