Leaves of Grass

A young man asks the speaker how to best understand his brother. The speaker answers by talking about the figure of the poet. Everyone waits for the poet to appear: beautiful women, animals, the earth, the ocean, and farms and cities. Wherever the poet goes, he participates and finds acceptance. He is the “answerer” (Line 19) who can answer everything that can be answered, and if something cannot be answered, he explains why. He can explain the purpose of “books friendships philosophers priests action pleasure” (Line 23), and he understands and supplies the satisfaction that is being sought. The poet also understands people deeply on an emotional level, having the “passkey of hearts” (Line 26). He is welcomed by everyone and has the power to bless others.

The poet speaks his own language and offers it to men; they translate and understand it. He is able to join disparate things together. He greets everyone in the same simple manner, from the president to a Black man who labors in the “sugarfield” (Line 33) cultivating sugar cane. Everyone assumes that that the poet understands their occupation and is one of them, whether mechanic, soldier, artist, or laborer. People see themselves in him: The English think the poet is English, Russians think he is Russian, and so on.