Leaves of Grass #3

Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.

I pass death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe...
and am not contained between my hat and boots,
And peruse manifold objects, no two alike, and every one good,
The earth good, and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.

I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,
I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and
fathomless as myself;
They do not know how immortal, but I know.


Before the passage, Whitman repeatably brings up the motif of grass and dark. The author appears to be referencing the life of a slave. He is watching their lives unfold and the terror they had to go through. The reference to the grass could refer to the work slaves do on the field as well as a symbol for life, in which it is dying as he says, "This grass is very dark."

Whitman is doing several things here as he is doing throughout his poems. He is exploring his own self, his individuality and his personality. He is examining democracy and the American nation with its achievements and potential. And also he is expressing his thoughts on aspects of life like birth, and death.

Whitman deals with death for most of the poems as a fact of life. Death in life is a fact, but life in death is a truth for Whitman. However in this case, it is giving it more meaning. He is considering death as an escape from the terrors of life. He sees the slaves dying in front of him and he wants to try and understand what they are going through and believes that in their case, although life is beautiful and offers so much, it would be better to die. Or possibly even not even be born, so that they did not have to suffer through what they had to which is why he asks, :has any one supposed it lucky to be born?" When he asks the question, he is directing it towards the slaves and wondering what they feel on life verses death.

In the passage, Whitman says, "I'm not contained between my hat and boots. The earth good, and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good." He is comparing his life to that of a slave and saying everything has been good to him. The repetition of good appears as an allusion to the bible as the adjective good was used a lot as well in that structure so Whitman could possibly be referring to the Book of Genesis and saying how his life is natural and as it is meant to be, while the slave's lives are not.