Looking just at that opening section that begins Leaves of Grass, we find a lot of sensory language: sing, loafe, and lean all construct an image of the speaker as a bold, expansive, and natural voice, unafraid to enjoy his and other's humanity. Unlike other mid-century earnest laborers, he takes time to lean and observe a "spear of grass" but also observes "creeds and schools in abeyance."

He moves from the abstract "myself" to the microscopic "atom" of his physical body, whose tongue sings this Song of Myself, America. He speaks of his body and his self as being a product of America and constructs a brief genealogy: "Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same."

This section creates a speaker for the poem that is both Walt Whitman and the nation. Both the individual atomic people and the collective "sing" in and through this poem, much as we see in "I Hear America Singing."

The image created is contained in the bodily figure of a male speaker but it transcends that ego to include a far more expansive self. The leisurely language with its alliterative l's sound, long lines, and free verse offer a pacing suitable for the image he projects of himself as well as what he suggests is true of this country. In many ways, Whitman is creating a new type of poetry as well as a new type of poetic identity in this poem, which is highly self-conscious in its choices. The sounds and the voice create a larger visual impression than conventional poetry often uses.

The first image in this section is an image that will recur through the rest of the poem: "I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass" (5).  The speaker's observance of this "spear" of grass (which is an unusual word--normally, one would say "blade" instead of "spear" of grass) gives him the moment to consider Nature's connection to humanity, because afterward, the speaker comments on how "My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, / Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same (6-7).  Whitman sees in this one piece of grass the connection of humanity throughout the ages, through generations of people who have come before him and who will come after.  Again, this is a theme that will continue through the poem.

The other image that is consistent throughout the poem is the speaker himself: "I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin" (8).  This poem is like an autobiography of sorts for Whitman, and he is beginning of journey, "Hoping to cease not till death" (9), which is reminiscent of the Transcendentalists.  Through this poem, he hopes to discover something about himself before he dies, and he is hoping that Nature will give him the answers.