The seventeen poems in this final section (excluding the two annexes) are appropriately valedictory. Whether short and epigrammatic (like “Portals” or “These Carols”) or long and discursive (like “Song at Sunset” or the aptly named “So Long”), the poems deal with the approach of death, what lies beyond the grave, and what Whitman will leave behind him when he dies. 

As the Time Draws Nigh

The poet explains that as “the time draws nigh glooming a cloud,” he feels a dread of something he cannot identify. He will go forth, traveling around the States, but he does not know where or for how long—perhaps, he suggests, his voice will suddenly cease in the midst of his song. He asks his book if this is all his life amounts to, but then says to his soul that they (he and his soul) “have positively appear’d – that is enough.”

Song at Sunset

The poet sings gladly of earth and life at the end of the day, tracing the day’s passage until the last ray of sunset hastens away. Everyone, he sings, is illustrious. Space, the motion of beings, insects, speech, the senses, the body, the passing light, and everything he sees, hears, or touches are all wondrous to behold. There is good in everything and it is wonderful both to depart and to remain. It is wonderful to breathe the delicious air, to be “this incredible God I am,” and to have lived “among other Gods, these men and women I love.”

There is also wonder in the poet’s celebration of the reader, of himself, and of the wealth of the natural world. He catches the strain of music that has flowed through ages and continents, passing it forward to honor the sun and the beauty of the earth. Steaming down the Mississippi, wandering over the prairies, bathing in the Eastern and Western seas, walking through the streets of Chicago “or silent woods, or even amid the sights of war,” he has charged himself with contentment and triumph. He sings of equality in an electric voice, seeing not “one imperfection in the universe.” He will warble “unmitigated adoration” beneath the setting sun. 

My Legacy

A businessman who has made a fortune bequeaths property to his children, leaves “funds for a school or hospital,” and wills fortunes to his friends so they can buy gems and gold. Whitman, however, has nothing to show for his idle years, but these poems, so he binds together this bundle of songs to leave to his friends. At first, he mourns these meager accomplishments, but he soon realizes that his songs are his world, and he can only feel pride in them.

As They Draw to a Close

As his work draws to a close, Whitman can see the underlying aim of his earlier poems. In them, he sought to plant the seed of joy, of his aspirations, dreams, and plans. He hoped to fuse space and time in a song encompassing God and accepting both life and death; more simply, he wished to create a rapport between the soul and the mountains, rocks, streams, winds, and forests. 

Joy, Shipmate, Joy!

The poet cries the words: “Joy, shipmate, joy!” to his soul. Their life is over, so they are set to embark on a new life that has just begun, leaving a long anchorage as the ship “swiftly courses from the shore.”

So Long!

To conclude, the poet announces what comes after him. His work will come to fruition when “through these States walk a hundred millions of superb persons” and when “breeds of the most...