Specimen Days: Through Eight Years

        Whitman takes us (quickly and briefly) through a recap of the last eight years of his life, with this entry written in 1856/1957. This was a year or two after the publishing of Leaves of Grass, which he marks as an important milestone. The first half of his travels I found particularly important in terms of understanding Whitman a little more in the context of Song of Myself. He mentions traveling (with his brother Jeff) through the nation, traveling through Ohio, Mississippi, New Orleans, Michigan, parts of Canada, and some lands in between.
        Though the way he presents his travels is very factual and almost list-like, it does add to what he wrote in Song of Myself, simply because it adds a little experience to what Whitman wrote about. Now, knowing he traveled through the United States, his poetry of the different human subjects he covers becomes a little more real and personal. Whitman already has a gift for taking on the role of other in his writing, but this adds another dimension to it. The lands and people Whitman wrote about may actually be people he spent time with during his life.