Whitman’s use of “you” is one of death and loss, by writing
about it he allows it to live again. Whitman is lamenting the death of Lincoln,
dancing around the ambiguity with metaphors (the star) and confusing addresses.
Is the reader supposed to take on the role, common to Whitman, of the “you,”
the sacred lost one? Who do we identify with, Whitman or “you?” It seems to me
that although it shows up in different contexts, he is still refrencing the
same loss. Similar to the unknown depths of our unconscious thoughts in dreams-
a certain idea may reappear but morph into something relevant yet different
with each appearance. An indea can also embody more than just the literal
(recall Lincoln being a form of synecdoche for larger ideas) Whitman ends with
a resolution that death is only painful for the leftovers; the dead do not have
to suffer.
Rukeyser takes the “you” to mean nothing specific because it
identifies a myriad of specifics – the “workers,” “surveyors and planners.” The
“you” embodies us all, it becomes the “we.” The guilty and the innocent are
combined in the end; just because some wore masks did not leave them free of
poison. Similar to the way Whitman lists titles in “Song of Myself,” Rukeyser
does so to call out to those who need to hear. She builds on the history of
colonialism “Down
coasts of taken countries” with the exploitation of the workers.
