In the earlier chants, the accent was on observation; in this sequence it is on what "I" am or what "I" am becoming. Whitman develops a kind of microscopic vision in the way he glorifies the details of the commonplace. The poet's experience is ecstatic; his joy comes to him through his senses, and the physical enjoyment suggests a sexual union as the culmination of this experience of ecstasy. The catalog of people and places is an attempt to give a feeling of universal scope. Ordinary life becomes permeated with mystical significance. The poet identifies himself with every being and every object, and this identification forms an integral part of his concept of what "I" am. The process of identification arises out of the belief that the poet's soul is a part of the universal soul and therefore should seek union with it.
Whitman also discusses the relative properties of the body and the soul. He finds that the body has value, for it leads man to a unified self, a purified combination of the body and the soul. The poet praises the primitive life of animals (section 32) because they have achieved this union — they are born pure. In sections 33-37, Whitman experiences a spiritual illumination, passing through suffering, despair, and the dark night of the soul to finally achieve purification. His self, purified, comprehends the Divine Reality, the "transcendental self" Transcendentalism is a word with varied meanings, but in Whitman's poetry it implies beliefs based on intuitional philosophy which transcend, or go beyond, ordinary experience. Human reason can deal reliably with phenomena, but there is a world beyond phenomena, and this world is approached through faith and intuition. Transcendentalists tried to receive their inspiration at first hand from the Divine Power. Their God was sometimes called the OverSoul. Whitman's God revealed Himself in nature. The poet's self, inspired by his insights, venerates God, the Divine Reality, who embodies the transcendental self.
