ad for it to be in contact with me" (Whitman 25).
Whitman sees himself, and the poet in every man and woman and child, as a lover of all other things and beings in the world. Nothing is shameful in the world, and everything can be redeemed:
The call of the slave is one with the master's call
. . . and the master salutes the slave,
The felon steps forth from the prison . . . the insane becomes sane . . . the suffering of sick persons is relieved (Whitman 114).
Whatever the plan of Whitman might be in terms of structure, the impact of his poetry on the reader is an emotional and physical assault. The poet simply wears down the reader with images, and this is exactly what Whitman wants to do
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