American Literature
Thus we see poems like "Song of the Open Road" and "Crossing
Brooklyn Ferry," where the poet claims to be able to enter into the heads of others. Exploration becomes not just a trope but a mode of existence.
For Whitman, spiritual communion depends on physical contact, or at least proximity. The body is the vessel that enables the soul to experience the
world. Therefore the body is something to be worshipped and given a certain primacy. Eroticism, particularly homoeroticism, figures significantly in
Whitman's poetry. This is something that got him in no small amount of trouble during his lifetime. The erotic interchange of his poetry, though, is
meant to symbolize the intense but always incomplete connection between individuals. Having sex is the closest two people can come to being one
merged individual, but the boundaries of the body always prevent a complete union. The affection Whitman shows for the bodies of others, both
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