Sections 5 and 6, the scenes of Washington and of the Indian woman, present a contrast to the scenes of shipwreck and death in sections 3 and 4. Scenes of separation and frustration are followed by those of union and fulfillment.
In section 7, the poet's mood changes again. He has been in "contact of something unseen — an amour of the light and air." The seasons become part of him and his dreams. "Elements merge in the night," people recall their pasts in dreams and imagine themselves to be living in the past again. "The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman . . . voyages home . . . /To every port of England, France, Spain, enter well-fill'd ships." These "immigrants," like "the beautiful lost swimmer," "the red squaw," and all other people are restored to health by sleep — and made equal to each other, too: "one is no better than the other." They are all beautiful. The universe is orderly and everything is in its proper place. They are all different but are united in sleep. "The diverse shall be no less diverse, but they shall flow and unite — they unite now."
A notable image of this section is that of light. The poet experiences "an amour of the light and air." The imagery of light suggests the illumination resulting from Whitman's mystical experience. This section also exemplifies Whitman's technique of presenting a series of men and objects in quick progression, illustrative of diversity, but also an initial step to the idea of unity.
Other images are those of return and of beauty. The imagery of men returning to their original homes perhaps suggests the return of the world to its origins, of man to his primeval abode, in a process of spiritual renewal.
