Section 7 describes a barren landscape wherein the miners work. The miners and smiths produce the axe. The broadaxe has served man and mankind over the centuries. It has "served the Hebrew, the Persian, the most ancient Hindustanee," as well as the druids" and "the hardy pirates of the Baltic." It has "served all great works on land and all great works on the sea." It has served the living and the dead.
Whereas in earlier sections the broadaxe symbolized individuality, in this section it stands for unity. It unites the ancient age with the modern age. It serves the ends of pleasure as well as those of war. It also serves the dead, since it is used for making coffins. Thus it is a link between two worlds. Whitman emphasizes the unifying role of the broadaxe in the history of civilization.
In section 8, "the European headsman" is described as mask'd, clothed in red," and leaning "on a ponderous axe." His axe, fresh from slaughter, drips with the blood of his victims. The poet imagines these martyrs, including people who rose in revolt and "died for the good cause." Now the scaffold is empty, and Whitman sees "the headsman withdraw and become useless." The axe is the "mighty and friendly emblem of power" of a new race — the Americans.
Whitman's faith in the nineteenth-century concept of progress through continual human endeavor is revealed in this section. The dawn of democracy was preceded by the darkness of feudal oppression and injustice. Man's advance toward democracy was marked by intense struggles in which many valiant fighters lost their lives. But they had faith in their cause, which eventually succeeded. The broadaxe becomes the sign and symbol of this evolutionary process. It becomes the "emblem of the power," says Whitman, "of my own race."
